Jinrou
by Shadowman 747
Summary: Tsukune, a 50 year old vampire, born of an infection rather than procreation, is suddenly shipped off to Yokai Academy along with two of his monsterous Facing the various volatile monsters is the least of his In a changing world, what's a reclusive vampire to do when he is thrust into a conflict between monsters and humans? Tsu-centric, non-Sue OCs, warnings insde
1. Introductions

Alright, welcome to my latest kooky concoction. Lets kick this off with warnings. This is a butterfly effect story with many AU elements. Tsukune is a 50 year old vampire, what difference does that change in the story? Everything. It is a crossover with Shiki, meaning I will take a few characters from that, pop them in as supporting cast/antagonists/protagonists, the Shiki plot won't be touched upon heavily and you won't need watch/read it beforehand, although it is a great anime/manga and I recommend it. Tsukune is NOT a R+V vampire, he is a part of a vampire species strongly resembling Bram Stoker's own. I will go into more depth with biology/mythology at the end of the chapter.

I do have OCs, but I have run them through many Mary Sue tests, and they don't steal time away from the main protagonist. I wish that you would take this with an open mind. The hate for OCs is justified here due to all of the horrible Mary Sue fics, but I assure you, mine aren't like others.

If I include romance, and that's a heavy if, Tsukune won't be shipped with any of his 'harem members'. If I include any main character romance, Tsu will be shipped with some minor character, a Shiki character (heavier if than the romance itself), or an OC.

More author's notes at the end. Cheers.

* * *

I am Tsukune Aono, and I am a living vampire.

No, I wasn't always this way.

I was once a human, but that was years ago.

Now all I do is wait. For something to happen.

And that something is here.

In 1973, at 15 years old, I became a target. Not for a rapist, nor for a criminal, not even for a company needing labor. No, I had become a target for a vampire.

I was thin, but tall, straight black hair, with tan skin.

She was the most lovely thing. A girl, maybe looking a year older than myself at the time. She seemed to be from a western country. Long blonde hair, pale unblemished skin. But her eyes, they didn't even look human. Pure black, no hint of color, just a pair of dark voids that you could fall into and never come out.

She captivated me from the start, when I was walking home from the park, where I liked to watch the sunset before heading home to sleep.

The idea of being attacked, at the time, was not even within my comprehension. By a vampire nonetheless. It didn't pass through my mind as she begged expertly for a place to stay the night.

Alice. It was her name just as beautiful as she. No last name, just Alice.

Each night for four days, she visited my room. For the first two, I met her in park just after the sun had set. Each time, I would let her in. We would talk about mundane things. The weather, a few stories, maybe share opinions on various issues. We would just sit and enough each other's presences until the small hours of the morning. It was nice, in a morbid way. I didn't have to hold back with her. Knowing that you are going to die can do that. But each night it ended with her fangs in my neck and my blood drained.

It didn't really hurt, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling. Something akin to pins and needles spreading through your veins.

Looking back on it, I guess I didn't care much about my life, seeing as I was willingly throwing it away.

On the third night, despite my exhaustion, I got up and opened the window without being told.I knew I was going to die. I had accepted it. I was just going to enjoy as much of my remaining hours as I could.

On the fourth night, all I could do was tell her to come in. My window slid open and she was at my bedside. She spoke to me that night about how she lived, "It isn't that bad, this life I mean," she started, "Once you know what to look for in prey, it's easy to pick one off the streets and eat," at the time, I was slightly offended, if only just. She looked me dead in the eyes, our gaze meeting. "I have a feeling you'll come back. I usually don't offer charity, but due to your good spirit, I will teach you how to go about living without living." She didn't say might, or maybe, she solidly said she would. Like I would survive. I couldn't comprehend much at that point and I passed out as her fangs sunk into my neck for the fourth time.

Ten hours later, the middle of the day, I shot up, gasping for breath, eyes wide from what seemed like a nightmare. I fell back onto my pillow, weak from a head rush. My thoughts wandered after that for a good while. Why wasn't I dead? I stretched my arm out and into the beam of sunlight pouring in from the window. Why wasn't I blistering and burning like Alice said I would?

So I sat there until nightfall. And ended up pulling out, ironically enough, Bram Stoker's Dracula. I was three quarters if the way through before I started for the day, and between 5 and midnight, I managed to finish the book.

When I finished the book, I reflected on it, attempting to see things through the Count's point of view. And then I realised how ironic the situation was. Vampires, the nightly visits, everything is the same. So I laughed for a little while. After getting back from the restroom, Alice was waiting, lying flat on my small bed, hair splayed out under her.

Without looking up, she spoke, a quiet whisper, something barely audible, "And how are you still alive, Tsukune?"

Finding my voice, I responded. "I don't know, you said I should be dead or back, not simply alive." I had experienced so much shock in the last week that I wasn't even phased by the words that passed through my lips.

"There are horror stories that we have, you know," She whispered icily, still not moving an inch. "Living vampires, abominations, evil creatures. As strong as us, with none of the weaknesses." Ice felt like it was being injected into my veins as I put what she had said together. She rose from the bed, defying gravity. Her left foot touched the ground, the soft baby blue, the color of her whole outfit, material making a soft, yet far too loud sound upon scraping the carpet. The right followed in the same fashion. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, just as the sound of her footsteps slammed against the walls, and into my ears.

"They can't be allowed to live," And with her final word, she charged, fingers turned into claws and fangs bared. Each detail seared into my mind, I reacted quicker than I thought I ever could, turning enough to let her slip past me, and extending my arm to catch her clawed hand. I charged forward, her arm caught in my steel grip. The wall shook as her small frame slammed against it, her breath leaving her with a sharp gasp. Moving quickly, I secured her free arm and trapped her body against the wall, leaving no room for movement. She struggled, but apparently I was stronger.

A prickling at my gums told me that my mouth was now a weapon as well. And suddenly, I was so thirsty. It was unbearable, like my throat was made of sandpaper. Despite the lack of a heartbeat, I could feel the blood flowing through Alice's veins. It moved on its own, not needing a muscle to do the work. I wanted it. I needed it. I didn't care if I had any attachments with the girl, she was a liability and had something I wanted.

Roughly and instinctively, I reached my mouth to her neck and bit down, not caring if her blonde curls got in the way. As soon as my newly grown fangs roughly punctured her porcelain skin, they retracted, leaving bleeding wounds for me to enjoy. It was like an explosion of flavor in my mouth, like nothing I had ever tasted. Unbelievably sweet, yet it held the same coppery taste the blood always had.

Before long, Alice's struggles had stopped, and after that, the blood stopped flowing.

As I came back to reality from my blood induced haze, I started to realise what I'd done. I'd killed her. My only hope of learning how to live like this, dead. By my hands. I lifted my hands to my face, fingernails turned into bloodied claws. These hands had taken a life, far from innocent, but a life nonetheless. And I had enjoyed every second of it.

So I ran. Away from her death, away from my family, away from my very face.

The next night, three towns over, the moon, completely full, shined down upon me for the first time since the transformation. It was a nightmare. I had lost control of my hunger completely and something primal came up, aching to be let out. And I couldn't stop it. Fur grew, bones shifted, and I fell down to four legs. It was my first night as an animal.

The next morning, I still wasn't a human again. It was horrific, the possibility of not having a body. And so I looked at the face of one of the less gored victims, memorizing the panes and wrinkles of his face, until I felt human again. Average features, shaggy brown hair, utterly average. Nothing like my old face.

The face that awaited me in the mirror the next day wasn't my own. In a way, it was fascinating, having a completely new face, but at the same time, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring back my original face.

Over the years, I learned how to manipulate the transformations, warping my face more, ever so slightly, each time. The art of transforming was as simple as thinking hard about a bat or a wolf. A indescribably mental trigger was pulled, and I was an animal. Changing back was the hard part. You can easily imagine a wolf or a bat, but what about your own body. You never pay attention to it, you don't know each and every little thing, you can't get it the same twice.

My lack of aging got to me after a year. At first, it was amazing, I would never have to grow old. But than I came to the conclusion that I would never have respect, always being a fifteen year old.

Three years after my transformation, I decided to travel the mountains of Japan. Feeding on animals and staying in the transformed state of a wolf. The only thing I brought were a change of clothes and a picture of my new face. Somewhat of a funny image, a wolf with a backpack.

I came across a village by the name of Sotoba in the middle of winter. It wasn't a horrible winter, rather mild actually.

But I decided to stick around for a while. I was getting slightly bothered by living off of only liquids and raw flesh and walking on four legs. It made me feel unhuman. Although I had come to terms with my vampirism, I still wanted to be human, whatever that meant, even if I could just feel human once in a while, it was enough.

While there, I befriended a shrinekeeper's son who was about my physical age. Seishin Muroi, a lanky silver haired boy. He wanted to go to university and pursue a career in writing.

The only thing I didn't like about Sotoba was the small community. I couldn't feed off any humans because of it. If a wave of anemia broke out in the town, they would start taking blood samples. Those would be sent to a large hospital or lab when they couldn't figure out what was wrong, and after experimentation, vampires would be exposed to the world.

At one point in time, Seishin caught me feeding in the woods on two legs. I didn't pursue when he fled. He was a smart boy and didn't tell anybody.

When I came to the shrine the next day, the silver haired boy pulled me aside. Despite my race, I valued his friendship, no mater how short it would last. I really didn't want to hurt him, but I would if I needed to.

Fortunately he found it nothing but intriguing. In fact, he actually grabbed a notepad and started quoting me and jotting down ideas of his own. He was planning on writing about vampires.

I chuckled and answered his questions to the best of my ability. I told him about myself, and all I knew about vampires. It was somewhat refreshing to let it all out. To know another person knew about the curse, without being infected themselves.

I told him about the undead, and I told him about the daywalkers. The painful transformations, and the blood.

Seishin even offered his blood to me. At first I was shocked and denied. But he insisted and I ultimately gave in. It was just too hard to resist.

As soon as I bit into his arm, I knew he was different. His blood had something in it that I couldn't describe. It seemed... Volatile. Changeable. It was flexible.

Every Saturday, Seishin gave me blood for a good three months. But I had to leave. I was living in the forest with no parents for five months and hadn't changed at all. At fifteen, boys tend to be changing quite a bit, and I was not changing at all.

I left one night, leaving a note to say I would write.

I stayed off the beaten road and traveled for days on end as a wolf.

A wolf with a backpack on would be an odd sight I do admit, but it got the job done.

I had written to Seishin, and I got a postal box, we wrote back and forth for many years. But in 1995, he stopped responding. To be honest, I felt somewhat hurt. We had been friends for years, long distance, but friends nonetheless.

But that was years ago.

Almost a year ago, I was taken in by a couple. The Aonos. They were young, no more than 26, fresh out of university.

Kasumi, the wife, found me sleeping one morning on a park bench on her way to her job as a waitress at a small cafe nearby. I had actually just went to sleep, but she woke me up and insisted that I come home with her after she found out about my lack of a home.

I never really understood why she bothered. I wasn't badly dressed, nor was I thin. Enthralling and shifting did wonders for both.

But she took me in as one of her own. I was honestly confused at why she did this. I never did anything for her, but apparently she was just kind enough to do so.

Her husband, Koji, was just as nice. They were quite eccentric, but they were good people.

Initially, I panicked when Kasumi enrolled me into junior high. I looked around a year older than most of the children there. It was a frightening experience, and a couple students had odd scents.

One, a burly guy who looked around 6 foot already, smelled strongly of upturned soil and granite. Hotaka Ishii. He was a good guy with a strong moral code. I could respect him.

Another, a relatively small red haired girl, smelled strongly of ashes. Sumiko Takeda. She was fiery, and was quite cute. I honestly thought about asking her out during the year, but each time, my thoughts of my immortality prevented me from it.

It wasn't that their scents were unappealing, but they didn't smell human. At times, I honestly wanted to just take a small bite and see what they tasted like.

I made sure to keep tabs on the both of them throughout the year.

Towards the end of the year, I attempted to befriend both of them. It was honestly out of curiosity, maybe hope for another long lasting friendship. Hotaka came easily, but it took time to get Sumiko to open up.

When it came time for the exit exams, I was caught off guard and without blood. I was addicted and I hadn't had my fix. I ended up failing the test.

After I ended up getting my fix, from a nameless young girl a year younger than I looked, it all slammed down on me. It wasn't that I cared about going to highschool, but Kasumi wanted me to pass. Knowing her, she would have made me retake the year. I genuinely felt sad.

I hadn't felt that sad in ages. I hadn't even felt much of any strong emotions for the past decade. It was glorious, feeling an emotion so strong. I didn't want to disappoint her!

* * *

On the last day of school, I was walking to what I called home, along with Sumiko and Hotaka. They were talking about a school called Yokai Academy.

I needed to bring it up. Their apparent lack of humanity. Curiosity had me, and it would most likely be the last time I would see them. It was bittersweet.

So I decided to be blunt, nothing to lose, and after mastering the form of a bat, I doubt they could chase me down if things took a turn for the worst.

"I hear there is an extensive cub system," Hotaka stated, mostly aimed at Sumiko.

Sumiko smiled at that. "Sounds fun," she responded. "Say, Tsukune, where are you going for highschool?" I was caught slightly off guard by the question in my planning.

"Me? I don't know. I didn't score terribly well on my exams," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I'll be lucky if I don't have to repeat a grade," it was true, and I would hate to disappoint Koji and Kasumi. I really did like them.

"Wow, that sucks, eh Tsuk?" Hotaka said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Sucks, I had always found that exclamation humorous, given my race.

"Yeah, just a bit, I'm hoping that some school will take me in before I run out of time," I scratched the back of my head, a habit I picked up a few years back. "So what are you guys?" I asked bluntly. Hotaka raised an eyebrow, while Sumiko stiffened a bit.

Sumiko, always the defensive one, interjected quickly with, "We're human, idiot! What do you expect? Dragons?" She spoke to fast and too defensively, it was her tick. She was an absolutely horrible liar.

Hotaka was making subtle gestures at Sumiko, most likely telling her to stop making the situation worse. I gave a smirk, knowing they were caught. "The nose knows," I tapped my nose for emphasis. "I wouldn't call myself normal, nor would I call you normal."

It felt odd and uncomfortable not knowing what was going to happen.

Hotaka spoke up, attempting to redeem the situation. They really were trying to keep it a secret. But I was having none of it, I was on the offensive. "Well, what does your nose smell, oh great sniffer?"

"Fire and earth. And I ask again, what are you?" I responded.

The earthy smelling boy held a stone face for a few moments, before a grin split his face. I was legitimately confused for a moment. "Jeez, Tsuk, why didn't you just say that you're with us? Woulda been a lot simpler!"

But Sumiko apparently didn't like this development much, and exclaimed, "Hotaka, what are you doing!? He's not one of us!"

This made Hotaka's smile drop. Sensing the situation going downhill, I quickly hopped back a few steps, they turned and didn't look friendly. Sumiko must be able to sense something about a human that makes them human. I really didn't want a fight I was unprepared for, and didn't want to have to hurt the people I called friends. "You want proof that I'm like you?" I asked, to defuse the situation, or to plan a method of attack or escape. I pulled back my gums and let my fangs come down.

"Nice try, fake, but I could sense a vampire from a mile away!" Sumiko shouted, disregarding the fact that we weren't really in a secluded place. "You don't even have a monster's fire!" So that's what she could sense. It didn't help my situation, but it helped curb my curiosity.

"I don't want trouble, I just want to know why my friends are keeping secrets." It was pointed, and I knew that both of them valued friendship. I followed home with, "Please, let me prove it to you, I can easily do it."

Hotaka looked pleadingly at Sumiko, and I silently prayed to whatever god might be listening that Sumiko would cave under the pressure.

The fiery girl gave a loud and frustrated sigh. "Fine, come back to my place, you have an hour before I torch you." It was better than I could hope for.

I smiled warmly, closing my eyes. When I opened them, they were the black voids with a ring of red that were so common among the undead. "How much do you know about vampires?" I asked innocently. We continued on our trek, now to Sumiko's house.

As it turned out, both Hotaka and Sumiko both knew quite a bit about vampires. But not my kind of vampire. I honestly wouldn't even call their form of vampire a vampire. No weakness to sunlight, no psychic powers, no turning, no subtlety. They had sheer power, and more crippling weaknesses than I could count on both hands. Water of all things as well. I would rather be a normal vampire than one of theirs.

"Huh, well those don't sound anything like any vampire I've ever met..." I deadpanned. It was true. After turning, I had come into contact with at least a few dozen of my kind, not hard to do when you know where to look.

"Vampires come in two varieties," I started. Hotaka seemed quite intrigued, but Sumiko huffed and turned away. She was probably mad that I was 'faking'. "Normal and Jinrou, or werewolf."

Sumiko looked unconvinced and spoke her mind about it as well. "How can a vampire be a werewolf?" She accused.

"I'm getting to it. If you've read Dracula, you know about the normal variety. Retractable fangs, burning in the sun, psychic powers, all of it." I always did enjoy the part where people are amazed at the truth within fiction. Sadly, it only came from Hotaka, who was listening quite intently.

"A jinrou is vampire who didn't die. A living vampire. While werewolf would be an incorrect term, as we can transform into a wolf or bat, the wolf is always the first, and the easiest. Shifting into a small winged mammal from a human state is quite hard,"

"'We'? As in you are a jinrou'?" Hotaka used air quotes around 'jinrou'.

"Yes, and I can prove it to you when we get to a secluded spot." I stated confidently. I intended to show them one of my transformations, or maybe enthrall a cat.

"I look forward to it, and after you fail, I'm gonna roast you." Sumiko snapped, just as confidently.

"Screw her, I hope you prove her wrong, Tsuk," Hotaka's friendship has to be one of the most valuable things I could have asked for at the moment.

"Don't worry, I will." I reassured him. Sumiko huffed.

* * *

"Mom! I'm home!" Sumiko shouted as soon as she entered the door. "Hotaka's here, and Tsukune thinks he's a vampire!" I resisted the urge to facepalm.

Sumiko's mother appeared in a flash. Literally, smoke and all. It startled me, and I bared my fangs as a warning, daring the woman to come closer. It was instinctive, and I quickly snapped out of it, forcing me fangs back. She had never done that before. "Afternoon, Hikari." I said nonchalantly, rubbing the back of my head, still fingering the mental trigger to grow claws and a mouthful of nasty teeth.

Hikari was Sumiko's mother. She looked quite young, and shared the bright red hair that her daughter had. The resemblance was uncanny at times. "So you've got fangs, and they don't look fake," I was hopeful that she would help me out here. "But you aren't a vampire." My hope fell.

"Do you think we could sit down?" Hikari nodded, "And maybe tell your daughter not to 'fry me'?"

Hikari turned to Sumiko. "Sumiko, no burning people in the house." Said girl looked down slightly with a flushed face. I almost laughed, but refrained, there is a time and place for humor, and I wasn't feeling it.

"Why don't we all have a seat in the kitchen, sort things out the right way?" Hikari suggested. My shoulders slumped in relief as we all walked into her kitchen. Open and bright with a decent sized table to the side. I liked the design.

Hotaka fell into a chair with a loud sigh, while Sumiko and I were quite a bit subtler. Hikari went to grab water for us, pulling four glasses from a cupboard. She filled three at the sink and gave one to Hotaka and Sumiko. I waited for mine, but she went to a drawer and pulled out a knife. My brow furrowed. Until she raised her hand above the last empty glass, I was confused.

"You don't have to!" I quickly started, but Hikari disregarded me and the scent of blood filled the air. Not human, but blood nonetheless. It made my mouth water. The glass filled up slowly.

In the distance, I heard Sumiko yell something, but I couldn't hear it. I was hungry. I kept my eyes on the glass, pupils dilating. The crimson fluid slowly stopped flowing from the head haired woman's wrist, as the wound closed before my eyes. The glass was around half full.

"Judging by your reaction, I would say that you really want this," Hikari stated, swirling the glass, red covering the inside, slowly trickling down from the sides into the main mass of liquid just as fast as the swirling motion pushed it back up.

Finding my voice among my hunger, I responded. "Yes please, ma'am."

Far too slowly she walked to the table with the glass full of the delicious red liquid.

She set the glass down in front of me, before dragging a chair back to sit down. "Drink up."

It was all the confirmation I needed before I could take the glass and bring it to my lips, having the first sweet taste. It was hotter than normal blood, and even better tasting. The heat, mixed with a higher than human blood sugar content made the crimson liquid absolutely exquisite. I shuddered in delight as my fangs slid across the glass, leaving small visible gashes.

Too soon, all of the delicious liquid was gone and I returned to my senses. Immediately, I felt uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at me. My tongue slipped out to catch a drop of remaining blood from my bottom lip.

"You have sweet blood," I blurted out. "Fruity."

"Well, he's not human." Hikari stated, sounding sure. "What human could hold a glass of blood down, let alone tell what I've eaten in the last few hours?" Hikari told her daughter.

"But he doesn't have a monster's fire!" Sumiko snapped back, eyes glowing a bright orange. Hikari didn't like that much and immediately took on a parental scolding face.

"Does it matter about his fire? What about shapeshifters or ghouls that turn into humans?" She hammered. "You haven't been around long enough to know a monster that doesn't have a flame, so don't make assumptions." Sumiko looked down, ashamed.

"Sorry, mom." She said weakly. Hikari turned to me.

"As for you, what are you? I don't like my daughter hanging around the nasty type." Huh, racial divisions within monster culture, If I intended to get into their world, it might be tricky.

"I'm a vampire, Hikari. A jinrou specifically." Hikari have a huff of disbelief.

"I've seen my fair share of vampires, Tsukune, you aren't one." I almost slapped myself, I had completely forgotten about that, the intake of knowledge and the last remains of blood in my mouth making it hard to remember such details.

"Oh, I've heard about your kind of vampire, I'm not one. It's an infection more than a race. Humans killed by a vampire have a chance at dying and turning into one, dying period, or turning into a jinrou." I paused to take a breath. "I got lucky, turned into a jinrou.

"We stay close knit and I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of us. The few that I stay in touch with haven't mentioned anything about other monsters, just jinrou and themselves."

"Believable enough, and I'm not one to pry. Me and Sumiko here are phoenixes, and it's not my place to tell what Hotaka is." Hikari said. It would easily explain the regeneration and the flash. Hotaka shrugged.

"I'm from a family of elementals. My alignment is earth, my mother's is ice, and my father's is lightning." He said. This had panned out exactly as I had hoped. I wasn't dead, and my friendship was intact.

"You don't mind keeping my race close to chest, do you?" I asked the group. "You seem well read and didn't know about us, I would like us to stay a secret. If you don't mind, of course."

Hotaka nodded and Hikari spoke up. "Sure, you seem alright. We'll keep your secret, won't we, Sumiko?" She gave her daughter a slightly pointed glance. Sumiko nodded in submission.

A genuine smile graced my lips. "Thanks guys, you're a real lifesaver."

After that, we discussed Hotaka and Sumiko's tuition for the next few years. It was a place called Yokai Academy, a boarding school for monsters to help them fit into human society. It seemed like a good idea, after what I'd heard about some of the other races and how they got along with humans. They hybrids sounded like a downright nasty bunch. While I felt sorry for them, I couldn't find justifications for some of their outrage.

Hikari offered to get me the paperwork to apply, but it required your monster type. I didn't want to give it out to a culture of beings that seem even less hospitable than humans. And my thoughts were brought back to schooling and my lack of it.

"Thanks for the drink, Hikari, see you later Sumiko!" I shouted over my shoulder, a smile on my face. Hikari waved with a smile, and Sumiko gave a small wave as well.

"Yeah, thanks for having us," Hotaka said.

And we started walking. Hotaka's house was a few blocks down from mine, so we generally walked home together after seeing Sumiko home. I suppose it would be the last time. The thought made me sad, as the odds were that I would never see Sumiko or Hotaka again after they left for highschool. I briefly considered going back and asking Hikari for the forms, disregarding what little code of honor vampires had. But I quickly put the thought behind me.

"So?" Hotaka asked, expectantly.

"So?" I repeated, questioning his word.

"So, what are you going to do now? You know about our world, and we know about yours, what are you going to do now?" He asked. My mood took a one-eighty at that question.

I thought about it for a moment before responding. "Well, I guess I'll hope to get into highschool and live with Koji and Kasumi until they suspect something's wrong with my growth," I said, somewhat somber. I had never thought about what I was going to do after this year. I enjoyed it too much. So normal, I didn't have to keep myself from enjoying the presence of others.

"I honestly pity you, Tsukune." His words hit hard, but I could easily see where he came from. Immortality is nothing but pain and loneliness. "Why don't you just join in with monster society? We live a lot longer than humans, some just don't age period."

"I don't need it, I've been fine for the past 40 years, I can last a lot longer." I stated bitterly. It was a blatant lie, and I hoped that Hotaka couldn't see through it. The conversation dropped, veiling the air with an awkward silence.

We neared Hotaka's home, and walked up his driveway. Just before he closed the door he called out. "I can read you like a book, keep in touch, alright?"

A small smile passed over my lips as I nodded. Though I would never admit it, I was grateful for Hotaka's support and friendship. He always knew what to say without going overboard. Just enough to make a difference in somebody's mood.

I reflected in silence as I walked the rest of the way home. I ended up staying at Sumiko's later than I thought, and now the sun was starting to set. It was a beautiful evening.

"Kasumi, I'm home!" I shouted as I closed the door. I set my backpack down by the coat rack, disregarding the rule that I should put in my room.

"Don't call me Kasumi!" Said woman shouted from the kitchen, I could smell her cooking. It smelled like some sort of chicken was tonights meal, it was always delicious. Better than blood. She always got home before Koji, and always had food cooked for when he got home. It was like clockwork.

"Yes, Mom!" I shouted back as I walked to the kitchen. I pulled up a wooden chair and sat down at the table.

"How was your last day, Tsukune?" Kasumi asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Fine, I still don't know what I'm going to do about highschool though." I said. She set the knife she was working with down and rinsed her hands off before sitting down.

"Don't worry dear, we'll find a school that will accept you," She stated, absolutely sure. So motherly, I always wondered why she bothered. "Koji will be home in a few minutes, and I need to finish up. Go get washed up and changed," She said after a few moments.

"Sure,"

* * *

As I ran the wet, off white rag across my face and back, I contemplated life and where I would go. I didn't want this life to end. I wondered why I couldn't just be a normal teenager for a while. I quickly answered myself with a mental picture of Alice. The evil, evil girl who did this. In my fit of mental rage, I was glad I killed her. I continued rubbing my face until it was cleared of grime, then moved to put on a fresh shirt. A plain black T-shirt.

"Tsukune! Dinner!" Kasumi shouted up from down stairs.

"Coming!" I shouted back.

I hurried down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

Koji, in all his drama, started dancing around with Kasumi. I was utterly confused. They broke apart. "You'll never believe what this man gave me!" Koji exclaimed. "Look!" He held out a small pamphlet.

'Yokai Academy' was printed in bold black letters across the top.

* * *

AN: Alright, here's my latest crazy idea. And before you start bullshiting me about canon breaks and Tsukune being a Mary Sue (or an OC), I just gotta say a few things. Just because a character is an OC, doesn't mean they are a Mary Sue. I have ran all of my characters through a Mary Sue test. They all passed. I even made a test for my Tsukune. He passed. As a matter of fact, most OCs pass the test. But don't mistake me for defending all of the OC writers in this fandom, the vast majority of them are horrible writers.

I am loosely following the cannon of Shiki for Tsukune's breed of vampire (all of them will stay consistent). I say loosely because the Jinrou are never really explained. So I'm giving them animal shape shifting powers, not unlike the vampires of old. Jinrou does literally translate to werewolf after all.

As for Sumiko and Hotaka, I am enjoying writing them, the stark difference is amazing. Kotaka's 'go with the flow' attitude and Sumiko's 'my way or the highway' views make them quite fun.

**Monster Encyclopedia (READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ/WATCHED SHIKI)**

Vampire (Shiki)

Rank: B

Description: Vampires of legend. The shiki infection is spread via biting and death. Some humans have the genes to support the infection alive(see jinrou) or dead, and others don't. When a human is bitten by a shiki, they become a thrall, doing everything their master asks for to the best of their ability until the venom fades from their system, this can take days or weeks. They are know to be able to defy gravity to some extent and have enhanced physical prowess. The shiki will burn in sunlight and cannot approach holly symbols. They have an incomprehensible hunger for blood.

Jinrou

Rank: A+

Description: A rare subspecies of shiki with none of the weaknesses. Their bodies can hold the virus while staying alive, a feat that not many have. Due to being alive, the muscles work much better than their undead counterparts, while still holding the enhanced state from the virus. They are called 'werewolves' due to their ability to transform into a wolf or bat. Although hard, a jinrou can master transforming into other human forms from an animal state through practice and time.

Elementals

Rank: D-S

Description: Elementals come in families, each member having a random alignment. No one alignment is recessive. The elemental has almost complete control over his or her element, only outclassed by the strongest of wizards and witches.  
List of elemental types:  
Fire  
Water  
Earth  
Air  
Lava  
Ice  
Lightning  
Growth  
Light  
Dark  
Gas  
Ash  
More

Phoenix

Rank: S

Description: Massive birds of fire with incredible healing ability. Extremely few in number. The ashes of a pheonix are said to be able to revive a person from death.

I am following the R+V manga here, and if you're following the anime as the canon, you're wrong. I am completely changing the plot up, mainly the viewpoints for the characters, and what position they look at the event from. As for the Shiki part, I am following the anime with a few creative liberties.

Drop reviews, but tell me what you think, how can I improve, what needs fixing?

Cheers, happy trails, and Best Wishes,

Shadowman


	2. Control

Chapter 2, Control

'Ello, chapter two is up, I didn't get a horribly good response to my first chapter, due to my OCs. I don't blame you guys, and I hate unbalanced OCs as much as the next guy, but not all of them are unbalanced and Mary Sues. In all reality, my OCs aren't the main focus of the story, they just are a means to an end. I want a full cast of characters that can be liked by all. I want snarky(Sumiko), nice(Moka), supportive(Hotaka), shy(Mizore), calculating/harsh(Natsuno(yes, Natsuno)), and an upperclassman(Gin). I can't really do that without some OCs. But for the record, only Sumiko and Hotaka are the only OCs that are main characters.

There is the (perceived) issue of Hotaka taking too large of a role. I'm going to say that he takes the role of charismatic leader at some points, while Tsukune stays more in the back until conflict arises. This is perfectly within Tsukune's character, he's never that strong or outspoken during any times outside of a conflict.

As for not placing this in the crossover section, the Shiki fandom is minuscule, and it has such a small presence that I would get no exposure. And I honestly do like attention. For those of you who haven't watched it, it is an amazing show, a horror about vampires invading a small country village. It makes you start to think.

To those who read the version of chapter 1 with the bit about biomass shapeshifting, it's gone, and the Shiki canon is intact once more. Not much has changed, just that.

* * *

The sun beat down hot on my face and neck, and I wished that I had longer hair. I shook what hair I had, attempting to cover up a bit of my skin. "At least I'm not a normal vampire," I muttered to myself.

I was waiting for the bus, and Kasumi made me get out the door an hour beforehand.

* * *

As soon as I was done with dinner on the night of the flyer, I immediately went to boot up my laptop ('acquired' from a man who wasn't nice to me one day, he had the money to replace it) and tell Sumiko and Hotaka about it. The Windows logo took too long, and after typing in my password, it took another three minutes before it warmed up and I could open any applications. Damned old thing. While I wasn't horribly savvy with computers, I had taken it upon myself to at least learn the basics.

I pulled up my browser and was greeted by my emails. I opened Facebook on a new tab and the sight of a buff dog (don't ask how) with the caption 'Bro, do you even fetch?' greeted me. I bit back a laugh and clicked on the message tab that had a chat group with me, Sumiko, Hotaka, and a few random students that I didn't know well. I kicked the random kids from the group and started spamming the chat with useless trash until my two friends came online. I didn't have to wait long, as Sumiko had a smartphone and Hotaka was almost always on his computer.

Hotaka Ishii: What? Calm down and quit spazzing out.

Me: It's important, I need you two to come to the park, I need to tell you something.

Sumiko Takeda: better be important

Me: It is

Hotaka: Ishii: I can be there in 10.

Sumuko Takeda: ill be there faster

The park I was referring to was a small park, mainly made for children. More like a playground.

I left the computer on, grabbed the pamphlet and paperwork inside, and tore from my room, running lightly down to the door, slipping on my shoes and shouting, "Going for a walk, be back soon!" into the kitchen. Koji grunted.

"Don't be too late!" Kasumi warned.

"I won't!" I shouted back, before slamming the door.

It took around five minutes to get to the park while walking. Sumiko was waiting against a tree, shoulder length red hair slightly messier than normal in a cute way, smelling more like ash than usual. "You showed up early," I started, catching her by surprise. She jumped a bit.

"Yeah, I guess I did," She sounded winded, like she had run a mile. It didn't sound likely though.

"What did you do to tire yourself out so much?" I asked, concerned for her.

She glared at me before responding. I couldn't help but grin at the glare. "Tried the move Mom pulled earlier, didn't work out well," So she tried using the fiery teleport thing, must take up quite a bit of energy to tire her out. She was first in girls track this year, if that could tire her out, I sure wouldn't want to try it.

Moving to sit, I asked, "Just how bad is the conflict between monsters and humans?"

"Bad, she started, crossing her arms over her chest. "Trigger happy UN sanctioned monster enforcers, and Fairy Tale," It didn't really surprise me that the UN was involved, the supernatural could easily be classified as a security threat.

"Fairy Tale?" I asked.

"Monster extremists, completely delusional, but they are massive, nobody knows how they got the resources."

"Wow, sounds bad," I said.

"Yeah, it is," She responded.

The next few minutes were spent in silence. I spent the time flipping through eye colors. Black, to red, to gold, to brown, to green, to blue, to silver, repeat. It was a nifty trick, but didn't actually do much.

Hotaka showed up a couple of minutes later, he sat down on the end of the bench. I stopped changing eye colors at an orngish gold.

"Thanks for getting out here, guys," I said to the both of them. Hotaka nodded and Sumiko gave a 'sure'.

"Now what did you want?" Hotaka asked.

I took the pamphlet and paperwork out of the pocket of my jeans. "Take a look at this," I handed the pamphlet to Hotaka and the paperwork to Sumiko.

Hotaka's eyebrows raised and although Sumiko didn't voice it, her heartbeat sped up, signifying her surprise.

I waited for them to finish reading the papers.

"'Yoaki Academy, a school for the gifted'," My broad-shouldered friend read. "'A place for learning and friendships'. Huh, sounds like it's being directed towards a human, no mention of any under the bed creepies here,"

"Almost advertised for a human," Sumiko confirmed. "Nothing in the paperwork for monster type either,

"It's like they think I'm human," I said. I wracked my brain for potential reasoning for the lack of inhuman bits. Absolutely nothing reasonable came up.

Hotaka handed the pamphlet back to me and laced his fingers together. "I say you should go, you have friends there, and who knows, might make a few more?" The thought was appealing, but I was hesitant. With good reason. He saw my hesitancy and gave more reasoning. "What have you got to lose? One of the main rules of the school is 'keep your true form to yourself', your vampirism won't get out, and even if you do drink blood there, there are plenty of species that drink blood, it's not exactly a rare trait."

"I agree with Hotaka," Sumiko added. "Come on, he's right, the school seems like a good place to be for you"

I don't know what came over me, but I responded with, "Yeah, I guess so."

A grin split across Hotaka's face, and Sumiko gave one of her small smirks.

"Good, see you at the bus stop!" Hotaka said.

I may as well have signed my death warrant when I signed the pages.

* * *

After an hour of waiting at the bus stop, Sumiko showed up, the phoenix's mother had driven her to the stop. Hotaka had showed up from behind a tree not far from the stop after traveling underground. I could hear the earth moving, and his heartbeat underground. It was easy to tell his method of transportation. He brushed a bit of dirt off of the new uniform, green blazer, red tie, and tan slacks, as he walked over to us.

"Nice way to travel, eh Hotaka?" I asked, trying to make small talk before the bus showed up.

"Yeah, beats walking." The elemental said, finding more dirt and rocks and picking them off of the his clothes. "Gets a bit messy sometimes. I hear from my uncle, that traveling underground didn't used to be this bad. Pollution and industrialisation haven't helped. Or so he says." I could see how that might be an issue.

Smalltalk was made, and a few laughs were had before the bus came. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but when a stereotypical yellow school bus came from around the bend, my eyebrow raised. I was expecting something a bit more out of the ordinary. I caught a good glance at the bus driver and sized him up. Taller than average, skinny, glowing yellow eyes, dressed in a nice blue suit with a matching cap, and smoking a cigar. I cringed. The doors opened with a hiss. "All aboard for Yokai Academy," The man said, his voice deep and eery. Entirely not human.

"That would be us," I said lamely, and gave a gesture for Sumiko and Hotaka to step on first. As soon as I stepped into the bus, I was almost choked by the air. The smoke was sickening. I attempted to cover it up, but I gave a small cough anyways. I attempted to get the phoenix and elemental to hurry up, Hotaka had his eyes set on the back, and I was tempted to agree with him on his choice of positioning. I quickly grabbed a window seat, ignoring Sumiko's cry of protest. It wasn't my fault I needed to breathe, she didn't matter at the moment. Fumbling with the window latch, I ended up using too much force, and broke the latch, the window opened and fell open.

The driver took a long drag, before blowing out smoke into the cab. I could smell it all the way from my seat.

The bus took off, there was little talk between us during the short trip. Sumiko's words echoed through my head, "You have a few options here, the only way you can survive is to pretend that you're something else. The idea of an infection that creates monsters is to massive of a boon to various companies, human or monster, you need to pretend. Make it up if you need to, but don't go overboard, here's a list of monsters you could fit under." I had chosen a Skinwalker, a human like monster that can transform into a canine. That is, if I needed to share my monster identity. It was either that or one of their vampires with a seal, but then I would have needed to wear an elaborate rosary, and despite not being a normal vampire, religious symbols still made me somewhat uncomfortable.

Just after we entered a tunnel, I felt started feeling claustrophobic, the choking smoke, and the dark tunnel seemed to dull my senses and force my conscious mind back for a few moments. I almost missed the click of a button, and the short flash that happened outside of the bus. The flash happened too fast for any human to catch, but the senses of a Jinrou are second to none, from what I've heard.

The bus's breaks came to a screeching halt, and we all grabbed our bags and started filing out of the bus.

"Yokai Academy is a scary place, you kids better be careful," The driver said, taking another drag, before blowing the smoke in my direction. He knew I hated it, judging by his heart rate and the look on his face. He seemed entertained. My fangs dropped in rage. I bit back the urge to tear his throat out, forcing my fangs back into place, safely hidden behind my canines. I didn't know how powerful he was, nor did I want trouble with the staff. It was harder than normal, I had forgotten blood in my rush to get out the door, I internally cursed.

"That won't be a problem, sir," I said, trying to keep any venom from my voice. "I'm fairly sure I've seen worse," It was risky and a stupid thing to say.

"Well then, get off my bus, I have a schedule to keep," The driver gave a wide smirk, displaying perfectly white teeth, despite his smoking. I ground my teeth in frustration. He was getting under my skin.

"Yes, sir," I responded, trying desperately not to cough. I hurried off the bus after that, not wanting to stay around the rude man any longer than needed.

I had always had an issue with tobacco, the scent was too strong. As a vampire, the smoke became completely unbearable. To the point of not being able to stand in the same room with a smoker. When you can smell a buried and rotting corpse from half a mile away, an unpleasant scent becomes unbearable. Needless to say, the ride was hell.

The world outside the bus was a completely different world than the one before the tunnel. I was quite taken aback. The landscape was barren and rocky, nothing in sight aside from a cliff that dropped off into an ocean. The water crashed against the face of the cliff with loud crashes, loud enough that I thought a human could hear. A forest of dead trees guarded the path to a massive European castle in the distance.

The whole place reeked of death, blood, and decay. I couldn't help but feel in my element, but that didn't mean I liked it.

A scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head had a bus schedule stapled on it, along with an arrow pointing towards the castle with 'Yokai Academy' on it.

"This seems a bit off for a school, smells of death," I said, skeptically.

Sumiko sniffed the air, then shrugged. "I don't smell anything," She said. I wasn't surprised.

"Well, the school is that way," I said. "We'd best get moving if we want to make it there before the orientation." The assembly started at four thirty, it was roughly three at the time. We would have to walk at a decent pace, seeing as the castle, which I had made the assumption is the school, looked a few miles away.

The forest was creepy, but I didn't feel uncomfortable until I saw the skulls and bones littering the ground off of the beaten path.

"What the fuck?" Hotaka asked when he notices.

"No clue," Sumiko answered. "It's like they want to keep the students away."

"I agree with Sumiko," I said, voicing my opinion. "Makes no sense,"

The fluttering of thousands of small hearts beating pounded in my ears. I zeroed in on one and saw a bat, hanging upside down from a tree. The thought of thousands of bats living in the barren forest was somewhat amazing. Yet another unnerving thing about this place.

A scent faintly reminiscent of another Jinrou started approaching, and soon the sound of a bicycle chain and earth being crushed beneath tires began ringing in my ears. The scent was off, it had the scent of fresh blood on it, but it lacked the scent of the infection. It seemed nothing but wrong. As the scent approached, I started to pull my guard up, taking up a more neutral stance. I hoped the scent would go away. It only came closer.

"Get out of the way!" A high-pitched voice shouted, coming directly from the direction of the bike.

My head turned quickly, a girl with long pink hair, dressed in the standard Yokai Academy dress, green, white, red, along with a gaudy rosary around her neck. 'Vampire' my mind quickly registered.

I quickly jumped back and out of the way just in time, grabbing Hotaka and Sumuko's collars, dragging them back with me. The large boy stumbled back, but Sumiko shrieked as she tripped over her foot and fell. I panicked, and on instinct, got behind her. One thing people fail to realize, is that if someone is not in the proper stance, no matter how strong you are, gravity will always bring you down when you come into contact with the proper amount force. This happened.

The sensation of falling seemed to last ages, but came to an abrupt end. I hit the rough ground hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs. The horrible sensation of not being able to breathe assaulted me, just before Sumiko fell onto me. Her head impacted roughly with my ribs, and a flash of more pain assaulted me as a crack reverberated through my body. If I had any breath left in my lungs, I probably would have cried out. Her closed fist impacted with my cheek, causing a break in the skin.

I faintly heard the crash of a bicycle nearby as I attempted to catch my breath and failed. Sumiko quickly scrambled up, shouting at me. Not a lot of the words got through for the first few moments. Snapping back, I inhaled harshly, irritating what felt like a clearly broken rib. It would heal quickly, broken bones always did, but I always needed blood to speed up the process, and I had forgotten today.

I heard Hotaka rush over to the crashed bike, I caught the scent of the almost vampire's blood. Blood would help with healing, and I wanted it. I was sure my eyes shifted to their solid black form, I was wounded and needed attention, even if that attention wasn't from a doctor.

I used my rarely used levitation ability to lift myself to my feet. My eyes looked up from the ground, everything was a haze. Heartbeats everywhere. Sumiko's fast fluttering, light, her blood would be warm, and would flow fast. Hotaka's heart was much steadier, it would flow slowly. But the pink haired girl, I couldn't just hear her blood, I could smell it. I was hungry. So hungry.

"Blood," The word slipped past my lips, just as easy as it flowed past my fangs. I tried to gain control again, convincing myself that I didn't want to release my monster with my friends so close by. But why did I care? They know what I was, and what it entailed. Bloodlust continually seeped through my thoughts, tainting them with hunger.

Each step was far to hard on my hyper sensitive nerves, and although my rib was already set, in that short amount of time, it still ached. But it wasn't as bad as the all consuming hunger, so impossible to resist. I vaguely heard Sumiko shout my name, and Hotaka fussing over the girl. He needed to go away.

"Hotaka, move away from the girl, now," I said firmly, no room for argument. His face, turned in my direction as I started to speak, went blank as soon as I gave my command. He was putty in my hands now.

"Yes, Tsukune," The elemental said blankly, completely in a trance. A smirk spread across my mouth.

The girl looked up, seeing me approach. She looked worried, "You're bleeding," She stated, eyes glazing over. I knelt down close enough to her to gain access to her neck. Although her arm was the thing that was bleeding, I knew that I would get more from her jugular. The oddly colored girl pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and dabbed it at the already closed wound on my cheek.

I was confused, was she stupid, or did she have no sense of self preservation? Every creature I've about to feed on had shown extreme fear, not concern for a wound. We oozed an air of hunger, hatred, and absolute terror when we hunted.

"I just lose control when I smell it," She continued. The girl leaned in, I smirked wider, she was just bringing her neck closer to my waiting mouth. "Sorry, but I'm a vampire," She jerked her head to bite into my neck, a common way for a vampire to bite.

"Not really," I quickly said before plunging my own thinner fangs into her outstretched neck before she could bury her own into mine. She gave a gasp as I was sure the pins and needles feeling had overcome her. Her blood was delicious. But it was dark, tainted, and impure. After swallowing just a few mouthfuls, I felt sick to my stomach.

Within seconds, it became unbearable, and I felt truly sick for the first time in over fifty years. I ripped my fangs out of her neck, retreating back a few feet before heaving the contents of my stomach onto the ground. I felt my control over Hotaka weaken enough for him to break the bond, and he rushed over to me.

"What are you?" I directed to the girl, in between heaves, who looked absolutely horrified. My black eyes blurred with tears as I attempted to right myself and stand. "What are you," I repeated, louder. I fell back to the ground with no response. "What are you!" I shouted at her, forcing myself up. "Your blood is tainted, poison!" My fingers turned to claws as I stalked towards her, my legs were wobbly, but instinct and the drive to kill were stronger.

"Stop it!" Sumiko shouted, her voice apparently back.

I turned to her and snarled out, "Stay out of this." I trudged on, disregarding the nausea, aiming to maim and kill the thing that had caused me this discomfort. It was instinctive, and it was just so easy to do.

"Tsukune, stop this now," Hotaka said firmly. I disregarded him. "Don't make me do this,"

Just as I was about to strike her down, I was knocked off of my feet and forced to the ground, tackled by what felt like a mass of rock. I snarled against it, and managed to use my legs to kick the massive stone humanoid off of me. Flipping to my feet I barely had time to dodge a fireball aimed at my head, launched from the flaming hands of Sumiko, whose hair was floating behind her, glowing bright orange, along with her eyes.

The mass of humanoid stone that I assumed was Hotaka was also a formidable sight. A hulking man beast made out of jagged stone was staring me down, intent more to debilitate than kill.

I swipped my arm wide at Hotaka, attempting to use my claws. I hissed as my claws broke upon his stone body. Growing new claws back instantly, I jumped aside from a jab from Hotaka's jagged left arm. Flipping to land my feet against a tree, using my gravity defiance to assist me, I launched myself at him, shoulder first, at incredible speeds. I made impact with a massive crash, from both my shoulder dislocating, and from Hotaka falling to the ground. The wound hurt, but it would be fixed in moments. I quickly hopped from the position, ignoring my dislocated shoulder and charged at charged at the glowing Sumiko, she moved to shoot another fireball at me, it went wide. She was panicked, a bloodthirsty grin split my face.

My shoulder popped back into place. I raised a clawed hand to swipe at her face, but I pulled it back as I heard the earth rumbling below it. Not a second later, a sharp spike of stone shot from the ground, meant to impale my arm. Hopping over it, along with Sumiko, turning in mid air, I made a grasp at the red haired girl, forcing her neck aside to give my fangs access to her neck. But my hand was met with heat hot enough to burn my skin, faster than it would regenerate, as it touched her glowing red hair. I hissed and jumped back, only to be forced back another few steps by more earth spikes.

I was quickly forced back by the combination of brute force and precision. I couldn't hurt either of them, Sumiko's waist length hair was hotter than fire, and I didn't have the blunt force to deal with Hotaka's stone. I needed to retreat.

Hopping back after shoving the elemental from range, I focused on transforming into a bat. It was fight or flight, and I tried fighting. I would be stuck on the ground, that left the air opened.

It was painful, but instant. I quickly flapped my new wings, flying away from my attackers and towards one of the many colonies of bats. Large stones, spikes, and fireballs were launched in my direction, but none of them hit, I was to small of a target. If a bat could smirk in victory, I would have been doing so.

They couldn't do much as I flitted in between the trees and intermingled among the other bats in the forest, and there were plenty. I ignored their shouting for me, still driven by instinct.

"Tsukune, come out! You can't hide forever!" Sumiko shouted. But she was wrong, I could, and she would never find me.

As they passed right below me, Hotaka shouted, "Listen to Sumiko, Tsukune, come down! You need blood? Take it!" An earthy metalic scent hit my nose hard, making my small stomach turn over on itself. But the noise startled the bats, and my survival instincts overrode my hunger. I reluctantly flew off in the swarm, ignoring the delicious scent of blood.

Eventually their shouting stopped and was replaced by defeated moans of unwanted pity.

"I hope Tsukune will be alright, that idiot," Sumiko said, quietly, even for my ears.

"If that little blood can do that to him, I don't want to know what would happen in a fight here," Hotaka's voice rang out, more clearly than Sumiko's.

After a time, even that stopped.

Slowly the haze fell from my brain, and I felt the full force of what I'd done. I flew down from the perch I was on, and transformed back into my usual semi-human form. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't had many friends before this, and I doubt anybody has made this big of a mistake before. Tears welled in my eyes. All I wanted to do was help! Couldn't I do something right?

I quiet sob ripped through my frame as I sank back against a tree. I sat there and sobbed for what had to have been around a half hour, filled with self loathing and depression.

Depression faded into more self loathing, into a will to gain more control. If I wasn't such a failure, I wouldn't have lost control. If I wanted no stop being a failure, I needed more control, I wouldn't hurt any of my friends again. I wouldn't allow it. No more failure. Never again.

So I rose up to challenge myself. Torn clothes and covered in blood, I rose up. I needed to get my act together. I started walking towards where I left my suitcase, I hoped it wasn't lost in my bloodlust.

* * *

I surveyed the damage from the scene. There was a large pool of dark red blood. It smelled just as tainted as it smelled the first time around. Multiple trees were torn apart, and a few fires had been put out by large amounts of dirt. I was so absorbed that I didn't notice a heartbeat until it was right behind me.

"You really lost it there," Hotaka's voice came from behind me. I didn't bother turning around. Doubt and shame came back full force. "You are you, aren't you?"

I found my voice. "Yeah," I responded. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't apologise, I heard the crack, your rib was broken. And I know what you said about needing blood in dire straights," He said. His words were firm, nor comforting. Disappointed maybe, but they weren't hateful. "Sumiko's quite broken up, and you seem to have scarred Moka, the girl you bit, for life,"

I looked downcast, I expected as much. "I take it a sorry won't cover it up," I said with a bitter laugh.

"No," Hotaka said, still in the cold voice he had been using. "Hurry up, if you're lucky, you can get washed up a bit and make it to orientation," With that, his footsteps echoed off. "Starts in an hour,"

I stood there for a few more minutes, before I picked up my luckily unharmed bag and hurried along. Just outside the main gate, I opened the case and fetched the envelope containing my room key and number. But I was lost regardless.

So I walked through the gates and into a crowd of people. I felt exposed and week, covered in blood and grime, but I forced myself to approach someone for directions. A few people stared, but most people took a glance and looked away.

I approached the first approachable looking person who didn't look out of place and new. A rather handsome boy who smelled canine. He had a silver choker on, along with a hair band holding back his brown hair. He sniffed the air and turned my direction before I asked for his attention.

"You look like shit," The boy said bluntly.

"I know, can you tell me where the dorms are? I'm new and need to change before the orientation," I said as steadily as possible.

"That's not a problem, newbie, I can show you the way," He got a glint in his eye. "If you join the Newspaper Club when the club sign ups come around," It didn't sound that bad of an option, and I didn't have a preference on a club. "We need new members, everyone either dropped or graduated last year,"

"Fine, lead the way,"

And he started walking. "The name's Ginei Morioka. I would shake your hand, but I'd rather not get blood on me," He said, with a humor filled voice.

"Tsukune Aono,"

"Well, Tsukune Aono, I will want the full story later," Ginei said, still in a happy go lucky kind of voice.

Soon we were in front of a run down building, not far from the entrance of the school itself. "Numbers go by hall and floor. Room 1A will be on the bottom floor, in the front, in hall A. I trust you can make it from here?" Ginei asked.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Ginei," I said, grateful for his kindness, even if it wasn't purely altruistic.

"Call me Gin, I hate formality," Gin waved his hand as if to dismiss the notion. "And I expect you to hold up your end of our bargain,"

"Will do," I responded.

"See ya," Gin shouted over his shoulder, starting to walk off.

My thoughts went to my mishap. It was bad, her blood made me crazy. And not in a good sense. I wouldn't have killed her, I just needed to heal. But that didn't excuse my actions. I needed to gain more control if I wanted to actually have a life. I hadn't really needed it before, mainly due to not sticking around any one place for longer than a few months, if I made a mistake, I would move. I also had tried to stay out of trouble, not give myself any injuries that weren't reparable. These monsters sounded volatile, and I doubt I could back down from a fight with one. None of these options sounded viable in this situation, I was stuck here for a few years,

The lobby was small, but could hold enough people. I was lost in my thoughts and didn't pay a whole lot of attention. I just wanted to get to my room and wash up.

I looked at the room number in the letter, room C-5, second floor. It was simple to get to the room, up the stairs and just down a hall.

I quickly unlocked and opened the door and looked around. Barebones, a closet, a kitchenette, a small bed, a bookshelf, and a table with two chairs.

Simple, but effective. I tossed my suitcase onto the bed and stripped, not caring if there was someone looking in through the large window. My shirt was nothing more than bloody rags, and I ended up using my claws to just tear it off, as it got caught on my arm. The shoes were fine, they needed a good wash, but they weren't damaged.

I unzipped the suitcase and pulled out the only spare uniform I had. I layed it down on the bed, before walking to the kitchenette with a white washcloth that Kasumi insisted I bring. The faucet poured cool water down on the cloth. I wiped it across the areas that needed cleaning, my face was covered in tainted blood, along with my neck and upper chest, and there was dust and dirt almost everywhere.

When I finished washing up, the washcloth was nothing but a red tinted brown. I set in the sink and turned on the water, hoping to wash out some of the grime from the cloth.

The fresh clothes felt wonderful compared to the sticky rags I had created and was forced to wear.

The clock that was conveniently located on the bookshelf next to the bed read 4:04. I sighed, but knew that I needed to get moving. But I was starving. Abstinence wouldn't work, and I didn't have time to check the cafeteria. I would need to grab a bite to drink on the way there.

I shut off the tap before opening the large window a crack and shifting into a bat. I needed to stay in control from now on.

* * *

I made my way into the main hall and followed the crowd. I singled out a scent that didn't smell as horrible as some of the others, it smelled like a mix of a bull and a man. I guessed that he was a minotaur. I approached my target, a good sized boy came into view, taller than Hotaka, and larger too.

I tapped his shoulder and he turned. With a charming smile, I said, "Can you come with me for a few minutes, you can still make it on time," I pushed as much of my willpower into forcing him under my will. His eyes glazed over. I always hated doing that, but it was necessary.

My smile left, and I led the assumed minotaur off into one of the unused hallways. I felt my control wanting to slip, but I kept it in check. I would only take enough to survive until I could get food. I slipped behind him and let my fangs come down. The urge to let go came stronger than ever. I wouldn't let myself slip. I carefully lifted his arm, as he was too tall for me to bite into his neck, and just as carefully bit into his wrist, puncturing a vein with extreme precision. The blood tasted like human mixed with bull. It wasn't as good as pure human blood, but it would do. I suckled lightly on the twin wounds, drawing in blood. Actually tasting the blood was much different than losing myself in a haze.

Once I felt I had taken enough to tide me over for at least a few hours, I dropped the boy's arm and looked into his eyes. "You will not remember this, go back to what you were doing," Enforcing my will was always so much easier after I had bit someone. At one point in time, I wondered why, but I didn't really care, it worked. That and I didn't want a trail of paper to tell anyone someone was researching into if hypnosis was biological or supernatural. I wasn't afraid to admit I was paranoid to some extent.

"Yeah," The glassy eyed boy said, and wandered back into the crowd. I followed when he was out of sight. Now, if I could just stay that much in control every time I needed to feed, I wouldn't have any trouble except under extreme circumstances, in which I hoped I could direct my beast if I lost control.

My mind wandered back to an hour ago. Everything was a clear as day, I could remember the look of pure terror on the girls face, the shocked look on Sumiko's face, and the trance like look on Hotaka's.

I was part of the last trickle into the auditorium. It was a large room with a hardwood floor, chairs were laid out in lines, many of them filled, facing towards a stage. I took the first empty seat I could find. A girl caked in makeup sat to my left, her nose buried in a pocket mirror, and a twitchy, rat smelling boy with greasy black hair sat to my right. By the scent of my chair, it looked like the girl had moved away from the boy. I let out a small laugh at it.

The ratty boy jerked it head to stare at me with beady eyes when he heard the sound. "Are you laughing at me?" he accused, eyes narrowed.

Although I was, I was never one to hurt someones feelings, even if it meant telling a white lie. "No, I was just remembering a picture," I lied masterfully.

"Alright, but I've got my eyes on you," The greasy haired kid said. The kid wasn't lying, he kept his eyes on me for the whole assembly, not even blinking. It definitely wasn't comfortable.

There were so many scents and sounds, it was almost overwhelming. I hadn't been in many situations where there was this much activity, so close.

The closest had to have been one of the many middle school assemblies, and it was completely dwarfed by this event.

Soon enough, although not soon enough, with rat boy's eyes glued to me, a man dressed in white robes came from behind the stage. I raised an eyebrow, monster culture must be different hugely different than human culture.

"May I have your attention," echoed through room. The voice demanded attention, and the room quickly quieted. "Thank you. I am Tenmei Mikogami, the headmaster of this school. I would like to say a few words before you start your education here at Yokai Academy,"

I tuned out for most of it, as it was what I guessed was a standard 'welcome to highschool' speech, mixed with a bit of supernatural.

"And lastly," Mikogami started, "I would like to introduce the teachers that will be sharing their knowledge this year," And yet again, I tuned him out, not listening. Each teacher he called up onto the stage and gave a brief description of. Either their academic performances, or their accomplishments in the human or monster world.

"Seishin Muroi will be teaching first year literature," This jarred me from my thoughts and I jerked my head up. I definitely knew a Seishin Muroi, and after straightening my eyes, I saw the man that I assumed Seishin would be in fifteen years, up on the stage. Silver hair, large eyes, glasses, and dressed in tan slacks and a white button up shirt. "An accomplished author, known for the writing of 'Shiki', 'Fall of the Cherry Blossoms', and 'Roots', among others. Mister Muroi has come out of retirement to teach the students of tomorrow," This made no sense. He couldn't be alive. But he was here, right in front of me. I had initially thought it might be his son, but before we stopped writing, he told me that he had started a solid career in writing with 'Roots'.

I wanted to ask so many questions, but I knew I couldn't. That would have to wait. Unless his blood had completely changed, I could find the scent. A vampire never forgets a bloodscent. Each person has an individual taste, a scent as well. I, along with a good few of the vampires I've met over the years have a perfect recollection of each person they had fed on. I would find him, if was actually the Seishin Muroi I knew, I would have to catch up.

I was honestly giddy with excitement. It completely overshadowed my mishap.

* * *

The assembly came to a close after a while, and I started looking for a scent. Everything was covered in odd scents, but his was there. It was only a matter of time before I could track him down. My excitement grew as I caught a fresh trail. The scent was off, but it was his.

I hurried down the halls, the scent only grew fresher, I was getting closer. I was probably lost, but I didn't care. I needed to find him. I had no clue what I was going to say, but I wanted to find him.

The scent lead me to a closed classroom, his scent was all over. Before I could knock on the door, a voice called out, "I know you're there, Jinrou, come in," I could instantly tell what was off about his scent. He was like me. I was a bit shocked.

I slid the door open and walked through. Seishin, so much older than I remembered, but not old enough, sad behind a desk, fingers laced together. "It's been a while, Seishin," I said, attempting to keep my cool.

* * *

Oooooh, conflict, suspense, drama, angst, what will happen next? Honestly, what's going to happen next? I just write on a whim. Well, both me and you will hopefully find out sooner than later.

But yeah, Moka's introduction sort of has a heavy influence in what I loosely have going on in my head. If you've been up to date on the recent R+V chapters, you might have a good guess on what Tsukune was experiencing. Imagine Tsukune's body as a hunting ground for infection, the vampire/shiki/okiagari (I'm going to call them vampires, as Shiki was a self proclaimed title, and okiagari was a small village's name for them) infection owns it now. Animals fight for hunting grounds. Props and spoilers to whoever guesses what I'm going at.

Well, I'm gonna go back to playing Guild Wars 2, reading other fanfiction, and living my life.

Reviews are more than welcome, good or bad.

Until next time, Best Wishes,

Shadowman


	3. Jinrou

After looking back on the timeframe I'd set, I realize that it is off by at least 10 years, seeing as Shiki took place in the mid 90s (I'm gonna say '94(can someone confirm that?)). That's fixed. Other minor errors have been fixed in the previous chapters as well. If you can't tell, I go back and edit after I post.

After a lot of question about Tsukune's vampirism not matching up with the R+V canon, I am going to say this, Tsukune's vampirism is different from the R+V vampirism, but both exist. I honestly wouldn't have included Moka at all if her strain of vampirism wasn't in the story and didn't have a major plot point based around it.

I have updated my profiles and added links to a good amount of information on Sunako, Seishin, Natsuno, and Tatsumi. As well as a link to the dubbed version (Dubs are actually half way good, but I will provide a link to a subbed version if somebody asks) of Shiki and the general wiki page for it.

Bullshit/rant that you won't read at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Seishin looked questioning, but on guard. Curious, just as he had been before, but definitely more mature. But it looked as if he didn't recognize me. The subtle changes to my face must have added up.

"We met when you were fifteen," I said, hoping the few words would jog the silver-haired man's memory. A flash of recognition and astonishment came across his face.

"Tsukune Yamamoto, is it truly you?" He asked, voice full of astonishment. Yamamoto was an old surname of mine, the one I had started to use after turning until around '85.

"I go by Aono now," I said, a smile stretching across my lips as I walked over to stand across from him. It had been ages since I'd seen Seishin last. I extended my hand for a shake, he took it and we shook firmly. As his cuff rode up, my eyes were drawn to a rather large faded silvery scar on his wrist. It was deep looking, and wasn't the type to be made from an attack. And if it was made after his transformation, it would have healed.

"You've changed," Seishin said, a smile coming across his own features. I was drawn from my musings on the scar by his words.

"The face changes just as much as the mind does," I responded with a bit of mirth.

"Not for us," He said, his tone even.

"Well, not everyone is as lucky as us," I responded, only half believing my own words.

"Indeed." Almost all of the happiness Seishin held almost visibly dropped. "But why are you here? This is a school for monsters, and they don't know about our kind," A smirk danced across my lips, good he was just as sharp as he used to be.

The question was reasonable, and required a bit of thought. "I think they think I'm human,"

Seishin's brows furrowed in thought. "I can say the same, but that headmaster is a mysterious man. He might know something that he isn't letting on,"

"He did look like a sketchy figure, but that's all I can say," I said. While I wished I had more to go on, I didn't want to overextend into an unbelievable answer.

"I just hope that they don't know about Shiki," He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Shiki?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Us. The first few of us that I'd met named themselves from my book. The title stuck."

"I think 'corpse demon' is a bit unrefined. I'd like to think that I'm more than a walking corpse. And with the vampire craze in fiction, it's a lot easier to find food if you call yourself one," I said, giving my thoughts. It was true, while I hated Anne Rice and various other writers for romanticizing vampires and making it easier for the cruder members of our race to kill, it made it extremely easy to feed.

"You have a point, but it's what I've been calling myself for the past nineteen years," Seishin said.

"So you stopped writing me when you turned?" I asked.

"Yes. A family of Shiki moved into Sotoba and attempted to take over. It failed, and the village was burned to the ground. I've been with the few survivors since," I was somewhat shocked at his words. A vampire invasion? Nobody was actually stupid enough to try that, not even in such a small village. My eyebrow raised.

"An invasion on Sotoba? I can only imagine how many people died there," I said. Seishin gave a brief grimace and looked down slightly, shame? Regret maybe. I must have hit a sensitive spot, and instantly regretted it. As much as I hated to make the situation seem worse, I needed to find out a bit more. "I take it you didn't mean the human survivors?"

"No, I don't think I would last long if I met with them," Seishin said, somewhat downturned.

"Did you bring the others with you?" I asked. Multiple vampires traveling together isn't uncommon, but it might be problematic in this situation.

"Yes," Damn.

"How many?" If there were more than three, I would need to kill them. I really didn't want to, but I know what I would have to do to stay anonymous. Yokai was too small of a place for more than three of us, jinrou or not. Widespread anemia doesn't just pop up overnight.

"Two others. One is another teacher, the other is posing as my sick daughter," Seishin spoke, ever in his ever even tone. At least it was only the four of us.

"Do you kill?"

"Not anymore," I was relieved, I didn't want to have to take action.

"Good," I said. "How have you been over the years?"

"The past few years have been hard, but worth the while. We've been on the run from a group of hunters led by another jinrou," Seishin said. I internally sighed, I'd dealt with vampire hunters before, a massive pain, but ultimately nothing but bugs. But a vampire who hunts vampires, that was something that you don't hear about often. And something to fear.

"I hope they can't follow you here," I said.

"I don't believe that many of them can, the other teachers were talking about a barrier that keeps humans out, and killing any who enter," On one hand, that sounded like a good thing, on the other, they didn't deserve to die for no reason. If I could make a person completely forget a minor event, I would be extremely surprised if there was no creature or spell that could do the same.

"That's something, but you said the group is lead by a jinrou. What about it? The barrier didn't keep us out." Once in a blue moon you find a vampire who hunts vampires. Jinrou or not, they are more dangerous than anything else that we've come across. At least that's what my contacts say. Although I was fairly sure that some of these monsters were far more dangerous than any hunter, vampire or not.

"Although it is a possibility, I don't think that he knows about the school," The silver-haired man said. "And I haven't smelled another other jinrou around, aside from yourself and Tatsumi. I'll talk to him, make sure he doesn't act rashly," And now I could defuse the situation. There was little risk of exposure with them here.

"Three jinrou in one school, and I thought we were only a handful," I spoke with humor, a complete one-eighty from my previous tone. It really was unlikely, as only one in roughly one hundred turn into a jinrou, the rest just die or rise again as normal vampires.

"It is a bit odd, but not unwelcome," Seishin agreed. "Retaining a human guise gets tiring, and I always have preferred the day,"

And our conversations drifted into lighter topics. Politics, small talk, and stories.

When I looked up at the clock again, I was amazed at how much time had past. It was already eight PM, just an hour before the school's curfew. The sun was well on its way down, and the sun was already starting to set.

Not long after that, Seishin turned his head to look up at the clock, then again to look outside. "Sunako will be waking shortly," The silver-haired man said. "I'll need to be leaving soon," He paused before continuing. "You're more than welcome to join me, I'm sure she would love to meet you,"

Seishin had talked about Sunako in great detail. She was the one who started the invasion of Sotoba. Nothing but a little innocent looking girl. While he had never directly said it, Seishin implied that he admired her, from her description, I couldn't say I agreed. She sounded like a butcher. A vampire with a complete disregard for human life. I didn't like to associate with them. I quickly thought of an excuse for not going along.

"I would love to, but I just arrived today. I need to find my way around the school," I internally kicked myself, the excuse sounded quite lame, although I had planned on doing what I had said.

Although Seishin looked mildly disappointed, he nodded. "Alright, another time then,"

I nodded and smiled, "Sure, that sounds great," I stood from the chair I had pulled from one of the desks and went to put it back.

"If you need a solution to an issue with any students in relation to our kind, don't hesitate to ask. I will assist to the best of my ability," Seishin said as I placed the chair down. "But do be careful, I've been accused of being a human already,"

"So have I," I added.

I really didn't know how to say goodbye very well, so I just started talking "Well, I have a campus to explore before dawn and a schedule to memorize. I'll have to meet Sunako soon,"

"She would enjoy that," Seishin said. "You have literature with me at eleven, I will see you then, Tsukune,"

"Yeah," I smiled, I hadn't had time to look over my schedule before it came, so Seishin's statement came as a happy surprise. "Goodbye, old friend," And with that, I walked off to explore the campus.

* * *

As it turned out, more than just the castle held the school, there were also many external clubhouses throughout the dead forest. Needless to say, the place was massive.

It was roughly three in the morning when I came across the gym, along with a familiar scent. Living blood mixed with vampirism. Another jinrou. Remembering Seishin's words about there being another jinrou in his group made me relax again. I figured I might as well introduce myself to Tatsumi.

I continued walking down the short path and to the front entrance. Tatsumi's scent was emanating from inside the gym and I could hear footsteps from inside. I attempted to open the door, but it was locked. The footsteps instantly shifted to the rapid and light footfalls of a canine running at full speed. I was curious what the other jinrou was doing. He wasn't running away, just in circles around the room. I wondered how he got in without the door being broken down.

Looking around for an opened window or another way in, nothing immediately caught my eye on the ground level, so I looked up. An opened window on the upper level, easily reachable with a small flying form. Shifting into my bat form, I flew up, flapping my wings hard enough to gain lift before angling myself with the window.

As soon as I flew through the slightly opened window, I shifted back into human form and fell to the ground. Bending my knees to avoid a hard impact, the landing was soft and without harm.

Trying to find the other jinrou was next to useless, the scent was everywhere and I couldn't hear his breathing or heartbeat. There was gym equipment all over the room, not unlike a fitness club. My eyes were drawn to a slightly sweaty towel draped from one of the machines. The closer I got to the towel, the stronger a second scent became. It took me a moment to recognize the distinct light metallic scent of silver. My guard was instantly up. No jinrou traveling with a regular vampire carried that much silver.

"You're Tatsumi, right?" I called out. Even if I couldn't track him, I knew whoever was here hadn't left the room, it would have made too much noise with the only opened way out was the window.

I strained my ears to catch a heartbeat, nothing. My gaze shifted from shadow to shadow, piercing through them and hoping to find something other than nothing. Extending my claws and fangs, I backed towards the main entrance, checking my back every few seconds and hoping to have an out if things went down the drain. Each step was cautions and well measured, to avoid making any aggressive movements.

Luckily, the door didn't require a key from the inside. I reached for the lock. Thump-thump. I dove to the left, and not a moment too soon. Seamlessly pushing myself to my feet, I sized up my assailant. The jinrou was somewhat tall with a light and muscular frame, the Academy uniform covering it. He looked around my apparent age, with a stony face, hateful purple eyes, and shaggy purple hair. The other had a clear height advantage, as well as being armed with a silver combat knife.

The jinrou charged without a word, bringing the knife down on me. I attempted to dodge to the left, but crashed into a treadmill. Internally cursing at the impact, I triggered my wolf transformation, dodging a sideways swing of the knife.

Upon seeing my new form, the purple haired jinrou flipped his knife into a defensive backhanded position. Again, I cursed. This vampire knew how to hunt. Not good.

Scanning the room for something beneficial to turn the tide, I saw a set of large barbels, the one on the rack still had large circular weights both ends. I could use one of those. Starting in a four-legged run, I hopped up onto one of the treadmills and shifted back into human form. Tensing my legs and pushing my mental power, I launched myself from machine to machine, feet barely touching the metal or plastic.

For a moment, I felt relief when I reached the equipment before the purple haired boy reached me. But before I could get comfortable, the blade was swinging down on me again, I ripped the barbel from the rack, and whipped it around faster than any human could. The blade cut across my left shoulder and bicep as I spun. Using the massive momentum, I smashed the huge force against the other jinrou's chest with a resonating crack, sending him flying into another piece of equipment and cracking his skull against it. If I had to judge, I had broken all of his ribs on the right side and as well as giving him a nasty concussion. But he would heal.

Not skipping a beat and ignoring the stinging wound on my shoulder, I pulled the heavy weights off the end of the metal pole and let them drop to the ground. I started to bend the pole, it would do just fine. It was tough metal, but hollow, making it slightly easier. I wouldn't have been able to do it if I hadn't drank the blood of the minotaur. The going was slow, but I needed a loop large enough to slip the other jinrou's hands and neck through. It was the only way to really restrain a jinrou, crossing the hands behind the neck and tying something strong around the neck, binding both. It keeps the Jinrou from transforming, as the transition would break both arms clean in two.

I pulled the boy to the ground once I had a nice solid loop and slammed his head hard against the ground, keeping him out cold. Chances were something I couldn't take now, I got lucky with the crippling blow, but I wouldn't count on it happening again.

After pulling the metal loop around the purple haired boy's neck, I pulled his hands above his head and shoved them into the loop. I yanked hard on the two ends of the loop, tightening it and locking the jinrou's hands behind his head.

My focus was drawn to the still unhealed wound on my arm. Silver is one of the few materials that actually harms jinrou to some extent, and not a lot of people know it. It stops our advanced healing and saps the strength from the area it comes in contact with for a good while. The blood flow didn't look bad, no major arteries hit. My regeneration would kick in in a few minutes and fix the issue.

Sniffing out the knife, I found it laying a few yards away from the other jinrou. Slowly walking over to it, I realised that he was just as fast and strong as I was. He had fresh blood in him. I would need to drain him, otherwise he would escape from the bindings easily. I kneeled down to pick up the knife.

I gave the knife an experimental swing. It was well balanced, if a bit heavy. An amazing weapon for killing vampires.

The blood dripping from the back of the purple haired boy stopped as the wound sealed itself shut. It was infected blood, not nearly as appealing as human. Deciding I wouldn't waste the blood that needed letting, I pocketed the deadly knife handle first and walked back over to him.

Killing him wasn't something I wanted to do, it served no point at this point. I assumed that this was the jinrou vampire hunter that Seishin was talking about. To be honest, Seishin had dodged a lot of information about the hunter and why his group was being hunted. If nothing else, I wanted information.

Kneeling down, I lifted the jinrou by the neck, avoiding the binding, and brought his left arm to my mouth. I extended my fangs and let them slip into the jinrou's flesh, infected blood filled my mouth. It wasn't foul like the pink haired girl's, Moka if Hotaka wasn't wrong, blood was, but it wasn't nearly as pleasant as fresh human blood. I let the somewhat bitter fluid flow past my lips and fill my stomach.

Once I was sure I had taken enough to weaken the other, despite my stomach's protests from the large meal, I let the purple haired boy fall back to the floor. Bloated is what I felt, I had taken too much of the infected blood and then felt like I was going to burst.

My wound started tingling, signifying the healing process had begun. It was annoying, as healing usually just happens without any feeling of discomfort, but not wounds caused by silver. I plopped down on one of the workout benches and started to wait for the boy to regain consciousness. I had many questions for the boy after all.

The wait gave me time to think back on the previous day, as well as set up a plan for the next. I regretted my assault on the girl as well as my two friends. I needed to make up with them somehow, but that was the issue. Somehow. If I avoided them like I had been doing the whole evening prior, they would assume I wanted to cut ties. If I acted like nothing had happened, they would assume that it was an everyday occurrence, and judging from their baseline moral and personal opinions, that wouldn't be a good option either. I mulled over it for a good half hour before coming to a resolution.

I needed to make it up to the pink girl, show my friends that I didn't mean to attack the girl, or at least regretted it. Keep a healthy distance from Sumiko and Hotaka, let them approach me on their own time. Don't avoid them, but don't get too close.

The old looking analog clock on one of the walls read four AM when the boy started to stir.

His eyes shot open and his heart rate spiked dramatically. My eyes darted to his position. I would leave him to struggle for a few moments.

The jinrou struggled against his bindings, but without his blood, he was too weak to break them. His face scrunched up in concentration and his abdomen rose a few inches from the ground before he collapsed with a gasp.

"Give up, you can't get out," I called to him from my position on the workout bench. He gave an icy glare in my direction.

"Why aren't I dead?" The jinrou asked. His voice was slightly raspy but even, and he didn't show any fear of his current position. I figured that he could be one of two types of vampire hunters, someone who needs an excuse to kill, or someone driven from vengeance toward an individual or group. If he was the later, I might be able to get information out of him.

"Because I don't want to kill if I don't have to," I paused for a moment. "Do I have to kill you? Because I would rather not."

The vampire didn't reply.

"I just want information. All I want to know is why you're here," It was true. But I wasn't making any promises about him leaving alive.

"You should know," He rasped, voice having no shortage of quiet hatred. I raised an eyebrow in question. He blew the a few purple hairs from in front of his face, only to have them fall back. "You're with Tatsumi, you should damn well know why I have a problem with you," That would do it.

"And if I'm not?" I inquired to gauge his reactions to vampires in general.

"Then I have no issue with you," The purple haired boy stated, still in it's somewhat calm tone. "But you called for Tatsumi, it's not unnatural to make the assumption that you're with them,"

"I can assure you, I'm not with them," I nonchalantly said. "If I am, you would probably be dead, or worse. So if you're here because of Tatsumi's group, what did they do to you?"

"They ruined my life," The jinrou growled.

"Elaborate," I demanded.

"I was living in a backwards town named Sotoba-" He got that far before I interrupted him.

"Ah, makes sense," The boy glared at me for interrupting. "I've heard the story. You were turned and want revenge?"

"Yeah, something like that," He said. "They are scum that needs to be wiped from the earth. And nobody seems to realise it," I rolled my fingers in a 'go on' motion. "They attack people for entertainment, and if someone rises up, they assume that they want to be like them. I'm doing the world a favor by hunting them,"

If he was telling the truth, Seishin's taste in company was even more questionable than I originally thought. If he agreed with the said moral code, I couldn't say that I wouldn't kill him and his group for the betterment of the world if they repeated what they had tried nineteen years ago. Realising that people change while growing up was once a bitter pill to swallow, but it was quite possible that Seishin was far from the quiet and nice boy he was all those years ago.

"What about other vampires?"

"Against the whole, I don't care. I just want to kill those who treat people like dirt or something to play with," That had confirmed that he wasn't a blind killer. Somewhat just, if he was telling the truth.

This lead me to an interesting dilemma. I agreed with a lot of what the boy was saying, if not as loudly, but was he telling the truth?

I leaned forward from my perch on the bench, "I want to know if I can let you out. If I can without risking harm upon myself, I will. I simply don't have a reason to kill you, unless you give me one," I didn't have use for his blood, but I don't know how I would deal with the corpse in this situation. It was already late in the morning, just an hour from dawn, people would be up. Arson would cause too much unnecessary damage, and I didn't want to be caught with a corpse or prisoner. Killing him would simply not be worth it.

The jinrou chuckled quietly. "You would have to be an idiot to let me out, after I attacked you,"

"Questioning my judgment doesn't seem to be a smart idea at this point," I let my fangs drop in warning. "I want to go about my business and go through school, can I let you out without my safety coming into question?"

"Yeah," The jinrou replied. "If you aren't with the Kirishiki's, I don't have a problem with you,"

Although is was still dark, what few birds were around the barren forest started singing. It was a nice distraction and let me think clearly for a moment. Could I trust the man (I assumed that his actual age was far from what he looked like)? He was against Seishin's group, but he was only one vampire. Seishin had another jinrou with him. But that lead to the question of 'do I care enough about Seishin to get rid of a corpse?'. The answer was no. We had been out of touch for almost two decades, on his behalf. He could fend for himself

I stood up. My choice was made. "I'm putting a lot on the line by letting you go. If you make me regret it, you won't be the only vampire hunting a jinrou," I took slow and steady steps. Over the years I've realised that keeping cool in high stress situations will either give you respect or it will intimidate your foes, at least in most cases at least. Something to do with psychology and passive responses.

I pulled the metal bond apart and let it drop. The jinrou quickly righted himself and stood up with a stumble. "What's your name?" I inquired in neutral tone.

The said jinrou turned his head my way and responded. "Natsuno Yuuki, yours?"

"Tsukune Aono," I offered. "Can we start over?" I asked with a smile, scratching the back of my head. Natsuno looked somewhat taken aback by my change of pace and nodded slowly. It was an awkward way to break the ice, for sure, but it seemed to work. "Well Natsuno, do you want an escort back to your dorm? I'd imagine that the Kirishikis would love to catch you without blood,"

Purple eyes glared at me. "Yeah, I guess,"

I nodded and gestured to the door. "Then let's go,"

Natsuno walked over to the door, lacking the aura of power and grace jinrou usually have around them, and flipped the lock to open before walking out. I quickly followed, catching the door before it closed.

I jogged a bit to catch up with Natsuno. The trek back to the dormitory wouldn't be that long, maybe ten minutes at walking speed

"What room did you get?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"C-6," The boy said.

"I got C-5, what a coincidence," I pondered it for a few moments. "I'm starting to wonder if this is all a crazy setup," Natsuno didn't respond, so I continued. "I mean four jinrou in one school, two teachers, two students. The odds of something like this are unreal,"

"No, doesn't make much sense," Natsuno said. The rest of the trek was a mostly one sided discussion on the academy.

* * *

I don't like a lot of things about this chapter. It's to short, to forced, to dialog based, and I think I'm pulling off characters wrong. I hope I can get the next one better. Because fuck if I keep going like this. But I needed a chapter out to keep me going. Sorry it's fucking bad.

Unlike most Tsukune-is-a-monster-from-the-start fics, I don't intend on Tsukune to be overpowered at any given point in the story (though during the endgame, he will be more than a bit powerful). He is not an X, Z, or SSS class monster. Most of his fights will be won through strategy, cheap tricks, and brutality, not pure force. Physically, vampires (Shiki) and jinrou are weak compared to most of the monsters in the R+V universe, although they can walk off just about any blow (Tatsumi flipped his car, took a shotgun blast to the back, got hit head on by a car, only to jack the car, then crash it without a seatbelt, he then proceeded to get shot 37 times, then fell off a bridge. And an hour later, he fought another Jinrou to a draw)

As for romance, I don't know if I'm going to bother. I know R+V is a harem romance manga, but that's just it. The characters aren't designed for realism. Tsukune was designed to be a generic male hero that any guy could slip into, while the females are all just pieces of ass that have minimal personality. If you can't tell, I'm opposed to that design. I enjoy well developed characters that have their own personality that don't just fit into an archtype.

So no harem for sure, as the characters won't be as shallow as kitty pools. If I do end up doing romance, it will be something out of the ordinary, as I get tired of seeing TsuxMoka or TsuxHarem. Maybe an OC, maybe a side character (Kieto, Akuah, Kaluah, maybe someone else). The idea of a semi-serious Miabi/AlucardxMizore has also crossed my mind and I've gotten a good amount of ideas from that.

Here's my Tsukune; he is reclusive in his immortality, wanting companionship, yet being selfless enough not to attempt to turn somebody. He knows that everything dies, but doesn't seek to make death come faster. He doesn't really have anything to live for, but doesn't want to die. His age lets him see things a bit clearer than others, but he's still a kid. A kid who's had a lot of time to think.

So, after making the diehard fanboys mad, I bid you adue,

Shadowman


	4. Calm

So, busy past few months or so. Had to stress on a last minute cosplay for Kumoricon. If any of you were there, I was the Alucard without a hat. And for the record, FMA has far too large of a fandom, there were like a hundred Eds, more then half half of them r63ed. Sure, it's good for an action shounen, but it's still an action shounen, therefore shit. Homestuckers started bothering me too. One in five cosplayers were from that.

I only got around 10 pictures, all of the best cosplays I could find, I can post them and post a link if you guys want. I got TF2 Medic, Skull Kid from TLoZ:Majora's Mask, Spiderman, Daft Punk, the Candyland cast, Fem!Steampunk!Deadmau5, Slendermen, and a Big Daddy and Little Sister from Bioshock. All of them were awesome, and stood above the rest.

Collage also started, and it's my first year. Not used to the work load.

* * *

The walk back to the boys dorm had little issue and we didn't run into any of Seishin's group.

Once we were on the third floor, Natsuno left for his room without a word. "See ya," I called out with no response. I sighed and thought on Natsuno as I unlocked my door. He was interesting if nothing else. Quiet and full of hatred. I briefly wondered if he needed a girl to 'fix' him, but almost laughed at the stupid notion.

I had studied common themes from books popular among females twelve through eighteen, and 'fixing' broody guys was one of the extremely common themes. As a vampire, I took up upon myself to learn a hunting technique. Acting like I came from a vampire romance novel worked well.

Pulling the silver knife from my pocket, I sighed as I saw a rather large cut in my pants. I would need to buy another few uniforms, as both of mine were completely ruined. Going out of uniform on the first day seemed trashy, but it seemed like I would need to do so.

Once again, I admired the craftsmanship of the knife. I might not give it back to Natsuno. Let him buy another. The edge was sharp and well kept. I doubt I convince Natsuno to give me the whetstone he undoubtedly had. Reluctantly, I set the knife down on the small table and started stripping.

Reaching for the suitcase that I hadn't yet unpacked, I pulled out the MP3 player I had bought the previous year. It was a nice model, an iPod touch. I dragged my thumb across the screen to unlock it and navigated my way to the clock application. I set an alarm for eight AM, and turned the volume up to it's highest.

The bed felt wonderful, and as much as I wanted to deny it, I was exhausted. The mental stress of the past 24 hours was almost more than I could handle.

Luckily, it was dawn, roughly five AM, and jinrou carried a good amount of traits over from the usual risen. One of the good ones was the ability to instantly enter deep sleep, and the compulsion to do so at dawn. I assumed that we immediately entered the part of sleep that we actually need, as I had never needed more than six hours in my second life.

Within seconds, I was asleep.

* * *

After what felt like moments, the abrasive sound of the alarm woke me up with a start, and without missing a beat, I was awake and rushed to shut the noise off.

How vampires slept has always been a mystery to me, but I could always say that I was immediately conscious when I woke up. In some ways, it was a blessing, not having to waste any time, but the downside is how hard we slept. We could be picked up and dragged off to be staked, or the normal vampires into the sun to boil alive. Only truly abrasive noises and sounds could wake us.

After grabbing the towel that I packed, as well as a change of clothes, a pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt, I left for the public showers.

The showers were just down the hall, each section had one. As I approached, I only heard one person there.

Pulling the door open, I looked about the shower room. It was a rather large room, much wider than long. There were individual shower stalls, and the water smelled hot. A few urinals and a sink were closer to the entrance.

I walked to one of the many opened stalls, pulled the curtain open, and stepped inside. After flinging the towel and clothes over the curtain rod, I started the water.

The shower was uneventful, and after I was finished. I shifted into a bat and back to get rid of most of the water before wiping the rest off with the towel. Already, I felt anxious. I was out of my element, and would be for the next four years. And I still had to deal with Sumiko and Hotaka. I had no clue how the new vampire conflict would end either.

Natsuno seemed absolutely determined to kill the remnants of the Kirishikis. Not that I could actually blame him. I was in an interesting position, at the moment neutral, but I was sure that both Natsuno and Seishin would be calling for me to join them before too long. Having another jinrou as an ally is valuable to say the least. But I intended to stay neutral unless it affected my survival and risk of exposure.

Pulling my pants up, I steeled myself. I would have to power through it, take things under control.

I pushed the bathroom door open with a grin.

A-2 was my homeroom class. It was in the western wing of the castle, it was far the brightest of all of the wings, looking the most like a normal school. The others were dark and looked like somewhere that a stereotypical vampire might reside in, if furnished properly.

Numerous scents and sounds came from each of the classrooms I passed. I was overwhelmed by the variance in scents. Some smelled unbelievably appetising, while others made me want to expel the contents of my stomach. If I focused on one for too long, I would almost get whiplash when I changed focus. Everything was so unhuman.

I slipped into class A-2 without trouble and was quite relieved that there were no outstandingly horrible scents around me. Slipping quickly into a seat by the window near the back, I started scanning the room. There were many seemingly normal teenagers talking about various topics and laughing, occasionally losing their human visage and slipping a fang or some scales.

A few people stood out against the crowd. A massive boy with studded ears and a nose ring, who looked to be almost five years older than the rest of the students sat near the center of the room, arm behind his chair and a cocky smirk on his face. He was clearly the class delinquent. Along with him, the greasy rat boy sat towards the back of the room, his beady black eyes locked onto me. I looked away and groaned, the assembly was enough, but the whole year? To much.

Natsuno also sat in one of the many chairs, blazing eyes boring a hole in the blackboard.

The class filled up with people that had no defining features and varying scents until the teacher walked in. She was a pretty blond woman who had her shoulder length hair done to look like cat ears. The said 'ears' twitched occasionally and made me doubt that they were just hair. Her scent was very feline as well, enforcing the idea that she was some sort of cat thing. Every otaku's dream. Said woman was dressed in a skirt and white blouse to cover her womanly figure, along with some modern looking glasses adorning her face.

She tapped a ruler, that she had picked up from her desk at the front of the room, against the blackboard loudly to gain everyone's attention. It didn't work the first time, and I masked a chuckle at her visible pout. She wound up for a large whack at the board and I raised an eyebrow. Crack! I flinched at the loud sound of the ruler breaking against the board, but it did it's job and the class snapped to attention.

The feline woman tossed the broken ruler to her side and smiled brightly, left ear twitching slightly. "Hello, everybody," She started with a sugary voice. "Welcome to Youkai Academy! I am your homeroom teacher, Shizuka Nekonome. And as you all know, this is a school for monsters!" A few people nodded and murmured in response.

"The reason for this school is because humans control the world, and for us monsters to continue to survive, we have to learn to peacefully co-exist with the humans," Each word was extremely upbeat, and emphasized by a tap from a new ruler on a diagram that had been written on the blackboard. "The goal for your time here at Youkai is to learn how to live among humans!

"And as your first assignment, I ask you to maintain your human form at all times and never reveal your true form to another, alright?" There was a murmur of 'sures', 'yes Ms. Nekonomes', and various other responses to the same effect came.

But the cocky large kid spoke up loudly, voice full of disdain. "Why bother with co-existence? Us monsters are so much stronger than those puny humans, why not kill all the ugly ones and rape the pretty ones?" I was sickened at his statement, and found so many flaws in his ill thought out logic that I could literally poke holes right through his statement like a needle piercing cloth. But I refrained from doing so. It wouldn't do me any good to start any trouble this early on. He looked to large to beat in a fight.

Neknonme frowned in an almost comical manner and responded with, "Well that wouldn't do us much good, now would it?"

Before the pretty teacher could continue, the doors burst open and a person with a large amount of pink hair rushed in, breathing hard. It was the girl I had attacked. I quickly turned my head to the window to avoid her gaze. "Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way."

Almost immediately, the pink haired girl had the majority of the male's lust. There were a few murmurs and an ignored exclamation. While she was pretty, quiet so, even remembering her blood made me feel sick to my stomach. Nothing with blood that vile could be a potential mate.

Mate was a word that I hated with a passion when in relation to vampire, but more often than not, it was the word that best described any 'more than friends' relationship I could have. It sounded primitive and crude, something far from the intelligence needed to be a vampire. But bride wouldn't work, as it didn't fit my appearance and lack of aristocracy, and girlfriend sounded to plain.

"No worries," Ms. Nekonome said, still cheerful. "Have a seat, we were just about to begin,"

Her footsteps came in my direction and I immediately flinched away, shaking what little hair I had down in a futile attempt to hide myself.

Her heartbeats picked up as she neared, she must have realized who I was. I heard her swallowing hard and shrank deeper into my seat.

After what felt like forever, Moka sat down in the desk behind me. Cursing my luck, I signed and straightened up, bracing myself for an awkward and boring hour.

Shizuka Nekonome, I decided, wasn't the best teacher, as she was quite an airhead. But what she lacked in intelligence, she made up with a pretty face and lots of enthusiasm.

As soon as the period ended, I caught sight of Natsuno glaring down a girl who asked if he wanted to walk to class together. I dodged my way though students in his direction.

"Hey, what class do you have next?" I lightly asked the other jinrou.

Still stoney faced as ever, he responded with one line. "Literature, taught by one Seishin Muroi,"

This could be a problem. I seriously doubted anything would happen immediately, it was possible it was wishful thinking, but at that moment, I knew for sure that someone would die. When, I didn't know. But there was no way that Natsuno would back down, and I doubted that the Kirishikis would continue running after securing a position with this much isolated food available.

"Don't do anything stupid," I said, voice hard and completely serious. "I don't want a pointless bloodbath,"

Natsuno turned and walked off, I didn't follow. Just before he left the room, he muttered a single line. "I don't make mistakes, not anymore,"

"Just don't put anybody at risk here, Natsuno," There was no response, but I knew that he could hear my words.

After a few moments worth of thoughts, I noticed a commotion a bit farther back in the room. Moka, the pink haired girl, was surrounded by a crowd, all groveling for her attention and not letting her get anywhere. It was the perfect time to play hero.

Although I never intended on forming an intimate or paracitic relationship, I could use a few steps from my usual seduction plan to gain her trust and possibly friendship. Step one, gain attention in a positive light. I may or may not have botched the step though.

I grabbed a boy by the shoulder and turned him around before compelling him to leave. It was surprisingly easy, like he was an animal, not even thinking.

Repeating the process until I was next to the petite girl, I grabbed her by the arm, she looked quite startled and when she looked at my face, she flinched in fear. "Did you still want to walk to class with me like you promised earlier?" I asked in my brightest and most charming voice. I didn't give her time to answer before pushing as much of my willpower into dispersing the crowd as I could. It was so easy compared to humans, all of these monsters were mentally weak that it was easy to overpower them.

"What are you doing?" Moka started in a panic.

"Getting you out of there," I replied simply. "You want to make it to class on time right?"

The girl still looked quite frightened. She dipped her head down to look at the floor. "But you attacked me, why are you helping me now?" It was a perfectly valid question, and I had a perfectly valid response.

"I didn't mean to attack you, and I want to make it up to you," I started, giving a megawatt smile.

I gestured to the door and Moka started walking. Her footsteps followed me. Once we were out in the hallway, I slowed down so we could walk in line. The clear silence between us was killing me.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," I started, making my voice as sincere as possible. I slapped a fake and wide smile across my face. "But I'm Tsukune Aono. And you're Moka Akashiya, your reputation precedes you,"

"I'm really nobody special!" The pink haired girl blurted out. Internally, I was agreeing with her, but I couldn't show it. Nobody is special.

"I disagree with that. I've been around awhile, long enough to know that everyone is special and unique," At the very most, the taste of blood was always unique. "What class do you have next?"

"Um," She hesitated for a moment, I assumed it was to remember a forgotten class. "Math with Ms. Kagome,"

"Huh, what a coincidence, I have the same class!" Annoyance spiked across my mind, but I shot it down. Too much forced contact and my plan is ruined. You need to go out of your way to spend time with said person, such as at a lunch break or during a free period. make them know that you could be doing something else. Makes the prey feel important, if you're forced to spend time with them, they know that you're stuck with them.

"What do you think of the school?" I asked, curious to hear what a monster would say about the odd place.

"I like the architecture, reminds me of home," She forlornly said. Did she really live in a european castle? That didn't seem right. But then again, it was a school for monsters, and I still had zero information on the culture of most monster groups, save my own secretive race.

"I know what you mean. Something about this place is nice, can't tell what yet," It was probably the lack of absolute secrecy that I would have to take here. Slipping up wouldn't be as much of an issue here. Black eyes and fangs seemed absolutely normal. "Do you have a favorite blood type?"

"I don't check the tags much, it all tastes the same," It was spoken like it was an everyday topic. Something to be brought up casually. I at least had some shame when admitting I was a vampire. It was somewhat unnerving. The statement also made her type of vampirism even more alien.

"Really? Mine is AB. Positive or negative, doesn't matter, high blood sugar is the best,"

While blood was still blood, the positive blood types tasted much wilder than their negative counterparts. Many times had I wondered if it had anything to do with the transition from human to vampire. Another thing on the hypothetical 'vampire research' list.

"Well," Moka looked down in what almost seemed like shame, "I've never drank anyone's blood, just transfusion packets and tomato juice," It was an interesting feeling, resisting the urge to laugh at the concept of vampires drinking tomato juice, and fighting the sickened feeling in my gut from remembering the anticoagulants and other chemicals in packaged blood.

Molding my humor into a warm smile, I spoke "I can show you if you want, how to drink blood,"

She looked shocked, wide eyes. "Would I be good at it? Doesn't it hurt people?"

"You're a vampire, aren't you? It should come naturally," I answered as kindly as possible. One of the hardest realizations that I had to come by as a vampire was that every time I ate, someone would have to hurt. It was one of many psychological problems with vampirism. The weak willed quickly lose themselves to insanity at unbelievable hunger and the the knowledge that they need to harm or kill someone to sate it. "If you know how to do it right, it should be painless for the giver," Facts I didn't know about about her race. Replace giver with victim.

"Alright, I'll do it," She said, somewhat skeptically. At this point, doubt was starting to creep into my mind. How many of her words were forced? I opened up completely wrong. I had attempted to kill her, not exactly saved her from bullies with a graceful fighting style or charmed her with words.

Letting a bit of guilt flow, my face fell and I looked away. "I wasn't in my right mind when I attacked you, I am sorry. Do you know what it's like to be ravenously hungry all the time, always drinking, but still empty? I lost it for a few minutes," Standard vampire pseudo-poetry, all truth with added romanticism, meant for the target to pity or support you, making them feel more important. It took a long time to master.

Her heartbeat picked up a bit, barely noticeable among the crowd. A small smirk slipped through my mask. Her somewhat panicked and quick voice spoke up to comfort me. "It's fine, really! You seem like a good person, you're nice now, right?"

Perfect reaction. After waiting a few moments to give the impression of mulling over her words, I responded. "You mean it?" I looked at her heart shaped face with a bit of a hopeful look. Not enough to make it unbelievable, but enough to lay a foundation and hopefully kill almost any fear she held of me.

"Yeah, you're a good person," The irony was killing me, she was trying to convince me I was good, when I was manipulating her into friendship perfectly.

A bright smile flew across my face. "Thanks,"

"Why aren't you in uniform?" Moka innocently asked after a few moments.

I scratched the back of my head. "I seem to have an affinity for getting into fights,"

The rest of the walk to year one math was boring, and filled with more unlikable scents. Stone, animals, ashes, the ocean, grime, and insects were common, and I found myself liking the water based scents the most. Sweeter smelling than human, while having a hint of something I couldn't trace.

Just as we crossed a four way hall, the cold wake of one scent smelled especially appealing. I stopped abruptly and inhaled deeply, following the scent back to a girl, retreating into the crowd. Small, black hair that went down just below her shoulders, and not in the standard dress code. Purple striped stockings, a misscolored skirt with a lopsided belt, and a white sweater with dark purple, almost black, sleeves that covered all but her fingers. What gracious amount of skin shown between the stockings and short skirt was snow white, far paler than even my own. I quickly forced my jaw open to avoid impaling the bottom of my mouth with my fangs. She was lunch, heading south, the direction of the gym.

"What's wrong?" Moka asked, seemingly concerned.

"I found lunch. I'll teach you how to eat during lunch," I spoke, forcing my fangs back into place and committing the black haired girl's scent to memory.

"Really?" The pinkette wondered in awe.

"Yeah, lets go," I forced myself away from following the scent and moved towards the next class. A foul scent washed away all but the hints of the icy scent.

* * *

Just as the homeroom teacher had a cute charm, the math teacher, Reriko Kagome was downright sexy. Long legs covered in stockings and a button up shirt that showed off a lot of cleavage and what looked like a black leather bra. She smelled vaguely like a snake. While the male in me screamed yes, the vampire screamed no.

The snake woman already had everyone's attention from the get go, no need for dramatics. "Welcome first years, my name is Reriko Kagome, you can call me Reriko, I hope we'll have a wonderful time together," It was spoken with a seductive drawl that I couldn't help be suspicious of.

Aside from the constant seduction attempts, the teacher went about her lecture as normal. All of the content was basically lost on me, and many others, but I wasn't worried. After looking over the grading system on Hotaka's fancy monster internet, I had discovered that Yokai had a strong base in sociology, psychology, english, and history, the rest didn't matter much. And why would I even bother with math when in a few years I would just run away again?

I zoned out during most of the class, giving mandatory glances at Moka and thinking about Natsuno and Seishin. The conflict that was stirring had me worried. About my safety and for those around me. I just hope that the coming storm didn't involve the population of Yokai.

But I knew it would. What vampire conflict doesn't require blood and numbers, risen or alive? None. There would be dead and turned. After they finished, they wouldn't give a damn and take off, and I would have to clean up the mess. I cursed Seishin and Natsuno.

Did I have what it takes to tame a small army of risen? If the Kirishiki's pulled off another mass conversion, it would be an absolute nightmare. Hormonal teenage monsters turned into vampires, thrust into hunger and darkness. No, I couldn't handle it. One? Yeah. Five? Maybe. A hundred? No. There was no way to sustain more than five vampires at Yokai, the anemia would become noticed. At twenty, it would be massive. At a hundred, the vampirism would become a vacuum, people would start dying, some would rise, and the ranks would grow, increasing the death count.

But I might have been overthinking, and forced myself to relax, planning my next step in the Moka/Hotaka/Sumiko issue. Moka was handled. I just needed to get Hotaka and Sumiko to believe that I hadn't just controlled her mind. And it was a valid concern. I had made it clear that I could do so with ease.

Between various trains of thought, the class ended quickly.

* * *

Lost in thoughts and the childish wish of no conflict, I made my way through the crowds of monsters to my next destination. Literature with Seishin. It would be interesting to find out exactly how Natsuno's first class with the man went. Hopefully not for the worst.

Moka had broke off from me, claiming she had PE next. And it was a relief to not have to wear such a false mask. Over time I could drop it, but not that quickly. The whole plan would go haywire if I dropped it to quickly.

Though I was looking for it, the delicious smelling girl's scent did not come near my path. I was almost sad when I reached Seishin's classroom. Natsuno's scent was lingering there, the boy was gone, but his scent remained. He had been there.

Walking in the opened door, I expected the worst. What I got was a room full of children and a silver haired teacher looking more than a bit irritated. I quickly found my way to one of the opened seats. Sadly, there wasn't one by the window. But I was still in one of the nondescript seats towards the back of the room.

Seishin's gaze seemed to bore a hole in me as I moved. He could probably smell Natsuno's blood within me. I would need to stick around after class to talk with him.

"Hello class, I assume you all know me from the ceremony, but if you couldn't attend, my name is Seishin Muroi," The silver haired man said in his ever even tone.

"This term we will be using the text 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker. I have a copy for each of you here," he gestured to a table near the front of the room where a pile of books sat. "I want you to stand up according to row and pick up a copy. "Lets start with row one,"

As each row came up, Seishin's eyes stayed on me half of the time. It was unnerving. I was in the third row, and as I passed his desk, the lean man spoke quietly. "Speak with me after class," I nodded discreetly.

Sieshin opened with having use read as far as we could. It was different than my other vampiric research material, and again, I found myself enjoying the text of a classic. I briefly wondered if Vlad the Third was actually a vampire, it would make sense, as well as give me a year's dose of irony.

The book was engrossing, as it always was. I had managed to read up to the point where Harker had met Dracula's brides before Seishin dismissed the class. I took my time gathering my books and made my way to the front last, breaking from the crowd at the door and shutting it.

"Natsuno is here, and you want to know my stance?" I asked, to kick things off.

Seishin nodded. "Yes. We have no idea how he got here, but he is a threat. Can we count on you to help us get rid of him?"

"I would rather stay out of it. If the conflict escalates, I will get involved," Though sides are questionable. "But you have two jinrou and he is only one, it's far from a fair fight,"

"It wouldn't be if he was alone," Seishin sighed and massaged his temples. "The daylight here is artificial, there are too many nocturnal monsters, there is no ultraviolet radiation here. This leaves his top four hunters to wander in the daylight, and that's not even considering the humans he's smuggled in," Strings of curses formed in my head.

"What are they doing, taking classes? Teaching?"

"Two of the shiki are taking classes, one is a club leader, and the last is acting as a nurse,"

"A nurse?" I asked, voice full of shock. How could any risen control their hunger to that extent?

"She was a nurse before she was risen, her willpower and dedication to her field makes her the perfect medic for Natsuno's group," Seishin seemed annoyed and desperate in the situation at hand. "Regardless, we need all the help we can get,"

The information was all a rush. I thought I would have a moth of normal before vampiric politics and grudges took over and risked the school. I was sadly disappointed.

"Give me time to think," It wasn't a question, and I wouldn't relent. "I have a meeting with lunch,"

"Very well, but please consider my plea, we need all the help we can get. At least meet with us for dinner and discuss it," I couldn't say no to everything, contrary to my wish.

"Alright, I'll find you at six," A thankful smile crossed Seishin's face.

* * *

The lunchroom was crowded, and I scanned over the various patrons. It was easy to spot both Moka and Sumiko's vibrant hair colors, but it took a moment longer to find Natsuno in the crowd. He was sitting with two people, a girl and a boy. Both chalk white. Their backs were exposed to me, so I couldn't tell if they were old enough to have a solid eye color. The boy had messy blonde hair and the girl had two brown braids, one on each side of her head.

I smelled blood from multiple places across the cafeteria, a good amount emanating from the meal window. Did they sell human blood here?

I got in the now moderately sized line and started the wait. It didn't take long for me to catch Natsuno's eye, and within seconds, both the boy and girl were looking in my direction. The boy seemed to have a soft face, made for smiling, and his sclara was starting to turn grey. The girl still had large bright red eyes. Her cheekbones were high and defined, as well as her chin, leading to a gaunt looking face.

I turned my gaze away from the starring vampires to the other group I was interested in. Moka's gaze seemed to catch me, and she waved. Sumiko and Hotaka looked on in awe and scepticism. Not surprising at all. I waved back to the pinkette.

The line moved along, and when I came to the first station, there was an assortment of drinks. And right beside the cans of Sprite, there was blood bags. On ice. Just sitting there. I picked one up. It was hefty and full, a sealed cap waiting to be opened. It was almost surreal. Without setting it down or checking the tag, I skipped ahead of the many monsters in the crowd to the checkout stand.

Each student was given a certain amount of money for meals a day that was included in tuition. I stood behind a large and fat monster, foul smelling. It took almost two minutes for the cashier, a young foreign looking woman, to ring up everything. Once he mumbled "Thanks," the monster lumbered off to find a seat.

I handed the woman the blood to ring up, briefly wondering if I was dropping the idea of being a skinwalker. Probably. So long as I didn't make a big deal out of being a vampire, I wouldn't catch anyone's attention. Lots of monsters drank blood, right?

The cashier rang up the blood and asked for my name. Everyone was on the database, give your name and the total is subtracted. The overall allowance for each meal was one thousand yen. Apparently a full sized infusion packet was only four hundred and fifty.

I thanked the cashier and moved towards the closest group of interest, which happened to be the group with Sumiko, Hotaka, and Moka. Hotaka was glaring away any monster that attempted to take the fourth seat at the table, his massive form driving them off. Not unlike Natsuno, although he and his two vampire friends could just stare at people with their oddly colored eyes and drink from their blood packets and they would stay clear.

Sumiko and Hotaka just stared as I took the last seat at their table, which happened to be next to Hotaka and across from Moka.

Hotaka was glaring away any monster that attempted to take the fourth seat at the table, his massive form driving them off. Not unlike Natsuno, although he and his two vampire friends could just stare at people with their oddly colored eyes and drink from their blood packets and they would stay clear.

Sumiko and Hotaka just stared as I took the last seat at their table, which happened to be next to Hotaka and across from Moka. Falling into the seat, I sighed. Plans be damned, I needed to keep my friends informed. "There's a vampire war coming on. Here," I stated abruptly.

"What? Come again," Asked Hotaka as if he didn't hear me right.

"An old friend of mine and his unsavory companions picked a fight twenty years ago that they couldn't finish. The attacked and almost successfully turned a whole village. They," I gestured to Natsuno's table, where an adamant girl now sat, ignoring the glares.

"In short, there are three vampires that have been running for years, and are now cornered. They will need man power, and they probably don't have long before the hunting faction finds them,"

"Are you kidding? Please tell me you're kidding," Sumiko said, not really believing me.

Moka spoke up. "Um, excuse me, you said they need numbers, how?" It would seem I would need to cement the differences between us.

"Look at my fangs," I forced my fangs down and leaned in, pulling my lips back. She would be seeing two needle like fangs coming from behind my canines. It was not like her sharpened and lengthened canines. My eyes gained the haunting pure black with red irises. She looked curious.

"There is a toxin or venom that replaced my saliva when I turned, a psychotropic paralytic, if it's in your blood, I own you," I started, as I hid my features once more. "If someone dies with it venom in their system, they can come back. What I'm trying to say is that we aren't the same kind of vampire,"

"That's horrible!" Moka exclaimed.

A smile crept across my face at her naïvety. "You're telling me," The smile fell. "Always travel with a group, don't go out when you can't see. All paranoia is now valid,"

* * *

You guys better be damn happy for the update. I had to go through the bloody manga to get a script for some parts that I felt didn't need to change. Do you know how bloody hard it is, seeing such shitty characters sort of interacting together? Fucking hard.

So, going full retard with this fic. For those who have watched Shiki, this deviates from the endgame there. Natsuno isn't an absolute bastard and works to find a solution that saves Tohru, and in turn, Ritsuko. For those who haven't watched it, link is on my profile.

And I'm softening my stance on the Tsuxcanon character front. I am getting amazing plot bunnies from Mizore, and I can't help but think that shipping her with Tsukune would give an amazing subplot. So, if I do romance, she's the target.

Thoughts and criticism are welcomed with opened arms. Reviews=good.

Best Wishes,

Shadowman


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